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About

Nicola Ng Pak is a pioneering researcher in surgical and bio-inspired robotics, with a focus on developing miniature, flexible systems for medical intervention and rehabilitation. Her work centers on endoluminal surgical robots, microactuators, and biomimetic locomotion, where she has made notable contributions to both device design and validation. Her most cited paper, “Stomach Simulator for Analysis and Validation of Surgical Endoluminal Robots” (2011, 22 citations), introduced a silicone gastric model that replicates stomach geometry and contractile motion, providing a critical testing platform for robotic tools targeting gastric pathologies. She also advanced microactuation with her work on an electromagnetic wobble micromotor (2010, 16 citations) and an electrolytic silicone Bourdon tube microactuator for reconfigurable surgical robots (2007, 9 citations), enabling complex in-body kinematic structures. In biomimetics, she designed a polychaete-inspired robot using IPMC actuators (2006, 13 citations), demonstrating modular, worm-like locomotion for miniaturized systems. Additionally, her early work on an exoskeleton for neurorehabilitation (2005) established design rules for upper-limb therapy devices. With a portfolio spanning surgical simulation, microactuation, and bio-inspired design, Ng Pak’s research has laid foundational tools for next-generation medical robots, impacting fields from minimally invasive surgery to rehabilitation engineering.