Sheeraz Athar

Purdue University West Lafayette, Aligarh Muslim University

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Sheeraz Athar is a pioneering roboticist whose work sits at the intersection of tactile sensing, surgical robotics, and rehabilitation technology. His most impactful contribution is the development of **VisTac**, a unified multimodal sensing finger that revolutionizes robotic manipulation by combining tactile contact geometry with pre-touch perception, enabling robots to sense distant objects before physical contact—a breakthrough cited 28 times since 2023. Athar further advanced surgical robotics with **TacScope**, a miniaturized vision-based tactile sensor designed specifically for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS), addressing the critical lack of haptic feedback that limits surgeons’ ability to palpate tissues and locate tumors. His research also extends to neurorehabilitation, where he developed an **EEG-based exoskeleton** for therapy, bridging brain-computer interfaces with physical assistance. With a portfolio spanning foundational sensor design to clinical applications, Athar’s work has garnered growing attention for its potential to make robotic hands more dexterous, surgical tools more intuitive, and rehabilitation more effective. His innovations represent a significant step toward truly perceptive and responsive robotic systems.