Evelyn Mendoza

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About

Evelyn Mendoza is a pioneering roboticist whose research bridges the critical gap between remote human presence and high-stakes medical intervention. Her work centers on teleoperation, haptic feedback systems, and human-robot interaction, with a primary focus on enabling seamless, intuitive control of robots across vast distances and within extreme physical constraints. Mendoza’s most notable contribution is her leadership in the development of robot avatars for the prestigious ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition, where her team’s system for immersive teleinteraction—detailed in her most-cited paper (2022, 20 citations)—advanced the state of the art in removing the sense of distance for professional and personal interactions. This work has profound implications for remote work, exploration, and caregiving. In parallel, Mendoza has made a significant impact on interventional medicine through her design of a teleoperated, MR-safe haptic system for MRI-guided prostate needle biopsies (2023, 3 citations). This system directly addresses the material and spatial constraints of the MRI bore, enabling physicians to perform precise, real-time procedures without iterative, time-consuming repositioning. By merging high-fidelity haptics with remote control, Mendoza is not only improving patient outcomes but also laying the groundwork for a future where expert medical care can be delivered from anywhere.