Mahdi Tavakoli, PhD, PEng, SMIEEE

Professor & Senior University of Alberta Engineering Research Chair in Healthcare Robotics, Faculty of Engineering - Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept

Dir of Mechatronics Engineer, Faculty of Engineering - Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept

Personal Website: https://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~mtavakol

Contact Overview Courses Publications Links

Contact

Professor & Senior University of Alberta Engineering Research Chair in Healthcare Robotics, Faculty of Engineering - Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept

Email: mtavakol@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 492-8935
Address: 13-356 Donadeo Innovation Centre For Engineering
9211 116 St

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H5

Dir of Mechatronics Engineer, Faculty of Engineering - Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept

Email: mtavakol@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Robotic Systems Medical Robotics Surgical Robotics Rehabilitation Robotics Assistive Robotics Collaborative Robotics Wearable Robotics Augmented Reality Technologies Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Telerobotics Telemedicine/Telehealth for COVID-19 Biomedical Engineering Control Systems Engineering Department Executive U of A Engineering Research Chair

About

Mahdi Tavakoli is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Biomedical Engineering Department and a Senior University of Alberta Engineering Research Chair in Healthcare Robotics. He is also Scientific Vice-Director for the Institute for Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies (iSMART) at the University of Alberta. He received his PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 2005. From 2006 to 2008, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR), Canada, and an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University, USA. Dr. Tavakoli’s research interests involve medical robotics, image-guided surgery, and rehabilitation robotics. Dr. Tavakoli is the lead author of Haptics for Teleoperated Surgical Robotic Systems (World Scientific, 2008) and the Specialty Chief Editor for Frontiers in Robotics and AI (Robot Design Section). He is a Senior Member of IEEE and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Robotics Research, IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics’ Focused Section with Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, and Journal of Medical Robotics Research.

Research

Research Interests

Robotics and Telerobotics
Haptics
Teleoperation Control
Surgical and Therapeutic Robotics
Image-Guided Surgery

Current Research

Bilateral haptic teleoperation control of systems with practical non-idealities including communication delay, control sampling, model uncertainty, robot flexibility, joint backlash and friction, etc.
Analysis and design of multilateral haptic tele-cooperation systems
Studying the human task performance in teleoperation and tele-cooperation under degraded haptic feedback (e.g., due to time delay)
Robot-assisted, image-guided surgery on the beating heart
Needle steering planning in robot-assisted prostate brachytherapy
In-home rehabilitation of stroke patients using haptic telepresence technology

Courses

ECE 760 - Advanced Topics in Control Systems

Winter Term 2026

Browse more courses taught by Mahdi Tavakoli

Featured Publications

Rigid communication topologies: Impact on stability, safety, energy consumption, passenger comfort, and robustness of vehicular platoons

Amir Zakerimanesh, Tony Zhijun Qiu, Mahdi Tavakoli

Vehicular Communications. 2025 August; 10.1016/j.vehcom.2025.100936

Virtual attention points: Bridging human movement characteristics and dexterous robot motion generation

Abed Soleymani, Yafei Ou, Xingyu Li, Mahdi Tavakoli

Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 2025 June; 10.1016/j.robot.2025.104946

Fatigue assessment in multi-activity manual handling tasks through joint angle monitoring with wearable sensors

Armin Bonakdar, Sara Houshmand, Karla Beltran Martinez, Ali Golabchi, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hossein Rouhani

Biomedical Signal Processing and Control. 2025 April; 10.1016/j.bspc.2024.107398

Assessing Effectiveness of Passive Exoskeletons and Tool Selection on Ergonomic Safety in Manhole Cover Removal

Xun Wang, Ali Golabchi, Maryam Shakourisalim, Karla Beltran Martinez, Zeinab Estaji, Sarah Krell, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hossein Rouhani

Sensors. 2025 March; 10.3390/s25072027

From Decision to Action in Surgical Autonomy: Multi-Modal Large Language Models for Robot-Assisted Blood Suction

Sadra Zargarzadeh, Maryam Mirzaei, Yafei Ou, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2025 March; 10.1109/LRA.2025.3535184

A predictive equation for maximum acceptable efforts based on duty cycle in repetitive back-involved tasks

Niromand Jasimi Zindashti, Karla Beltran Martinez, Ali Golabchi, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hossein Rouhani

Journal of Safety Research. 2025 February; 10.1016/j.jsr.2024.12.003

Iterative Learning for Gravity Compensation in Impedance Control

Teng Li, Amir Zakerimanesh, Yafei Ou, Armin Badre, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2025 February; 10.1109/TMECH.2024.3386407

Robust Control of Collaborative Dual-User Haptic Training System: An Autonomous Variable Impedance Scheme

Ashkan Rashvand, Mohammad Motaharifar, Reza Heidari, Ali Hassani, Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hamid D. Taghirad

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2025 February; 10.1109/TMECH.2024.3436622

Learning Autonomous Surgical Irrigation and Suction with the da Vinci Research Kit Using Reinforcement Learning

Yafei Ou, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering. 2025 January; 10.1109/TASE.2025.3576731

Trajectory Tracking Control of Wheeled Mobile Manipulators With Joint Flexibility via Virtual Decomposition Approach

Hongjun Xing, Yuzhe Xu, Liang Ding, Jinbao Chen, Haibo Gao, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering. 2025 January; 10.1109/TASE.2025.3540860

Reinforcement Learning Methods for Assistive and Rehabilitation Robotic Systems: A Survey

Mojtaba Sharifi, Shreesh Tripathi, Yun Chen, Qiang Zhang, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems. 2025 January; 10.1109/TSMC.2025.3555598

Continuum and Soft Robots in Minimally Invasive Surgery: A Systematic Review

Fahad Iqbal, Mojtaba Esfandiari, Golchehr Amirkhani, Hamidreza Hoshyarmanesh, Sanju Lama, Mahdi Tavakoli, Garnette R. Sutherland

IEEE Access. 2025 January; 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3535677

Adaptive Trajectory Learning With Obstacle Awareness for Motion Planning

Huaihang Zheng, Zimeng Tan, Junzheng Wang, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2025 January; 10.1109/LRA.2025.3544491

Autonomous Soft-Tissue Needle Steering Using Reinforcement Learning Guided by Human Input

Yafei Ou, Mahdi Tavakoli

Journal of Medical Robotics Research. 2024 December; 10.1142/S2424905X24400105

Robotic Assistance and Haptic Feedback in Arthroscopic Procedures: Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Two-Arm System

Teng Li, Armin Badre, Mahdi Tavakoli

Journal of Medical Robotics Research. 2024 December; 10.1142/S2424905X24500041

Kinematic Alignment Technique Outperforms Mechanical Alignment in Simultaneous Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Mohammad Mahdi Sarzaeem, Mohammad Movahedinia, Alireza Mirahmadi, Mansour Abolghasemian, Mahdi Tavakoli, Farzad Amouzadeh Omrani

The Journal of Arthroplasty. 2024 September; 10.1016/j.arth.2024.03.045

EMG-Based Intention Detection Using Deep Learning for Shared Control in Upper-Limb Assistive Exoskeletons

Paniz Sedighi, Xingyu Li, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2024 January; 10.1109/LRA.2023.3330678

Stability and Intervehicle Distance Analysis of Vehicular Platoons: Highlighting the Impact of Bidirectional Communication Topologies

Amir Zakerimanesh, Tony Z. Qiu, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. 2024 January; 10.1109/TCST.2023.3348072

Label-Free Adaptive Gaussian Sample Consensus Framework for Learning From Perfect and Imperfect Demonstrations

Yi Hu, Zahra Samadikhoshkho, Jun Jin, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. 2024 January; 10.1109/TMRB.2024.3422652

Hands Collaboration Evaluation for Surgical Skills Assessment: An Information Theoretical Approach

Abed Soleymani, Mahdi Tavakoli, Farzad Aghazadeh, Yafei Ou, Hossein Rouhani, Bin Zheng, Xingyu Li

IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. 2024 January; 10.1109/TMRB.2024.3464110

Autonomous Blood Suction for Robot-Assisted Surgery: A Sim-to-Real Reinforcement Learning Approach

Yafei Ou, Abed Soleymani, Xingyu Li, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2024 January; 10.1109/LRA.2024.3421191

Robot Learning Incorporating Human Interventions in the Real World for Autonomous Surgical Endoscopic Camera Control

Yafei Ou, Sadra Zargarzadeh, Mahdi Tavakoli

Journal of Medical Robotics Research. 2023 December; 10.1142/S2424905X23400044

Robotics in Nursing: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Elizabeth Mirekuwaa Darko, Manal Kleib, Gillian Lemermeyer, Mahdi Tavakoli

JMIR Research Protocols. 2023 November; 10.2196/50626

Vision-Based Work Zone Safety Alert System in a Connected Vehicle Environment

Haibo Cui, Kaizhe Hou, Jiarui Zhang, Siqi Yan, Mudasser Seraj, Yingke Wang, Mahdi Tavakoli, Tony Qiu

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2023 November; 10.1177/03611981231165997

Robotic Systems and Navigation Techniques in Orthopedics: A Historical Review

Teng Li, Armin Badre, Farshid Alambeigi, Mahdi Tavakoli

Applied Sciences. 2023 August; 10.3390/app13179768

Robotics in Nursing: Protocol for a Scoping Review (Preprint)

Elizabeth Mirekuwaa Darko, Manal Kleib, Gillian Lemermeyer, Mahdi Tavakoli

2023 July; 10.2196/preprints.50626

Artificial‐Intelligence‐Powered Lower Limb Assistive Devices: Future of Home Care Technologies

Javad K. Mehr, Mojtaba Akbari, Pouria Faridi, Hongjun Xing, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2023 June; 10.1002/aisy.202200361

A Dynamic Procedure to Detect Maximum Voluntary Contractions in Low Back

Xun Wang, Karla Beltran Martinez, Ali Golabchi, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hossein Rouhani

Sensors. 2023 May; 10.3390/s23114999

Discrete-Time Control Barrier Function: High-Order Case and Adaptive Case

Yuhan Xiong, Di-Hua Zhai, Mahdi Tavakoli, Yuanqing Xia

IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics. 2023 May; 10.1109/TCYB.2022.3170607

Sim-to-Real Surgical Robot Learning and Autonomous Planning for Internal Tissue Points Manipulation Using Reinforcement Learning

Yafei Ou, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2023 May; 10.1109/LRA.2023.3254860

Motion Smoothness-Based Assessment of Surgical Expertise: The Importance of Selecting Proper Metrics

Farzad Aghazadeh, Bin Zheng, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hossein Rouhani

Sensors. 2023 March; 10.3390/s23063146

Examination of effectiveness of kinaesthetic haptic feedback for motor imagery-based brain-computer interface training

Isao Sakamaki, Mahdi Tavakoli, Sandra Wiebe, Kim Adams

Brain-Computer Interfaces. 2023 January; 10.1080/2326263X.2022.2114225

Registration of Deformed Tissue: A GNN-VAE Approach With Data Assimilation for Sim-to-Real Transfer

Mehrnoosh Afshar, Tyler Meyer, Ron S. Sloboda, Siraj Hussain, Nawaid Usmani, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2023 January; 10.1109/TMECH.2023.3275940

A Model-Based Multi-Point Tissue Manipulation for Enhancing Breast Brachytherapy

Mehrnoosh Afshar , Jay Carriere, Tyler Meyer, Ronald Sloboda, Siraj Husain, Nawaid Usmani, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. 2022 November; 10.1109/tmrb.2022.3214439

Dual-User Haptic Teleoperation of Complementary Motions of a Redundant Wheeled Mobile Manipulator Considering Task Priority

Hongjun Xing, Liang Ding, Haibo Gao, Weihua Li, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems. 2022 October; 10.1109/TSMC.2022.3144009

Accurate Tissue Deformation Modeling Using a Kalman Filter and ADMM-Based Projective Dynamics

Mehrnoosh Afshar, Jay Carriere, Hossein Rouhani, Tyler Meyer, Ron S. Sloboda, Siraj Husain, Nawaid Usmani, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2022 August; 10.1109/TMECH.2022.3174510

Intelligent assistance for older adults via an admittance-controlled wheeled mobile manipulator with task-dependent end-effectors

Liang Ding, Hongjun Xing, Ali Torabi, Javad K. Mehr, Mojtaba Sharifi, Haibo Gao, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

Mechatronics. 2022 August; 10.1016/j.mechatronics.2022.102821

A Domain-Adapted Machine Learning Approach for Visual Evaluation and Interpretation of Robot-Assisted Surgery Skills

Abed Soleymani, Xingyu Li, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2022 July; 10.1109/LRA.2022.3186769

Haptic Feedback and Force-Based Teleoperation in Surgical Robotics

Rajni V. Patel, S. Farokh Atashzar, Mahdi Tavakoli

Proceedings of the IEEE. 2022 July; 10.1109/JPROC.2022.3180052

Impedance Learning-Based Adaptive Control for Human–Robot Interaction

Mojtaba Sharifi, Vahid Azimi, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. 2022 July; 10.1109/TCST.2021.3107483

Impedance Variation and Learning Strategies in Human–Robot Interaction

Mojtaba Sharifi, Amir Zakerimanesh, Javad K. Mehr, Ali Torabi, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics. 2022 July; 10.1109/TCYB.2020.3043798

Large-scale metal additive manufacturing: a holistic review of the state of the art and challenges

Thomas Lehmann, Dylan Rose, Ehsan Ranjbar, Morteza Ghasri-Khouzani, Mahdi Tavakoli, Hani Henein, Tonya Wolfe, Ahmed Jawad Qureshi

International Materials Reviews. 2022 May; 10.1080/09506608.2021.1971427

Dual Mode <i>p</i>HRI-<i>tele</i>HRI Control System with a Hybrid Admittance-Force Controller for Ultrasound Imaging

Teng Li, Xiao Meng, Mahdi Tavakoli

Sensors. 2022 May; 10.3390/s22114025

Surgical Procedure Understanding, Evaluation, and Interpretation: A Dictionary Factorization Approach

Abed Soleymani, Xingyu Li, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. 2022 May; 10.1109/TMRB.2022.3170210

Autonomous Locomotion Trajectory Shaping and Nonlinear Control for Lower Limb Exoskeletons

Mojtaba Sharifi, Javad K. Mehr, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2022 April; 10.1109/TMECH.2022.3156168

A Systematic Review of Industrial Exoskeletons for Injury Prevention: Efficacy Evaluation Metrics, Target Tasks, and Supported Body Postures

Alireza Golabchi, Andrew Chao, Mahdi Tavakoli

Sensors. 2022 April; 10.3390/s22072714

Autonomous Prostate Segmentation in 2D B-Mode Ultrasound Images

Jay Carriere, Ron Sloboda, Nawaid Usmani, Mahdi Tavakoli

Applied Sciences. 2022 March; 10.3390/app12062994

Adaptive CPG-Based Gait Planning With Learning-Based Torque Estimation and Control for Exoskeletons

Mojtaba Sharifi, Javad K. Mehr, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2021 October; 10.1109/LRA.2021.3105996

Intelligent Locomotion Planning With Enhanced Postural Stability for Lower-Limb Exoskeletons

Javad K. Mehr, Mojtaba Sharifi, Vivian K. Mushahwar, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2021 October; 10.1109/LRA.2021.3098915

Evaluating Community-Facing Virtual Modalities to Support Complex Neurological Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

Katelyn Brehon, Jay Carriere, Katie Churchill, Adalberto Loyola-Sanchez, Petra O'Connell, Elisavet Papathanassoglou, Rob MacIsaac, Mahdi Tavakoli, Chester Ho, Kiran Pohar Manhas

JMIR Research Protocols. 2021 July; 10.2196/28267

Kinematic design of linkage-based haptic interfaces for medical applications: a review

Ali Torabi, Ali A Nazari, Everly Conrad-Baldwin, Kourosh Zareinia, Mahdi Tavakoli

Progress in Biomedical Engineering. 2021 April; 10.1088/2516-1091/abee66

Delay-Robust Nonlinear Control of Bounded-Input Telerobotic Systems With Synchronization Enhancement

Amir Zakerimanesh, Mojtaba Sharifi, Farzad Hashemzadeh, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2021 April; 10.1109/LRA.2021.3061976

Evaluating Community-Facing Virtual Modalities to Support Complex Neurological Populations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Katelyn Brehon, Jay Carriere, Katie Churchill, Adalberto Loyola-Sanchez, Petra O'Connell, Elisavet Papathanassoglou, Rob MacIsaac, Mahdi Tavakoli, Chester Ho, Kiran Pohar Manhas

2021 February; 10.2196/preprints.28267

Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistance for Individuals With Movement Disorders Based on a Kinematic Model of the Upper Limb

Carlos Rossa, Mohammad Najafi, Mahdi Tavakoli, Kim Adams

IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. 2021 February; 10.1109/TMRB.2021.3050512

Robotics, Smart Wearable Technologies, and Autonomous Intelligent Systems for Healthcare During the COVID‐19 Pandemic: An Analysis of the State of the Art and Future Vision

Mahdi Tavakoli, Jay Carriere, Ali Torabi

Advanced Intelligent Systems. 2020 July; 10.1002/aisy.202000071

Using Potential Field Function With a Velocity Field Controller to Learn and Reproduce the Therapist's Assistance in Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation

Mohammad Najafi, Carlos Rossa, Kim Adams, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. 2020 June; 10.1109/TMECH.2020.2981625

Haptic Tele-Driving of Wheeled Mobile Robots Under Nonideal Wheel Rolling, Kinematic Control and Communication Time Delay

Weihua Li, Liang Ding, Haibo Gao, Mahdi Tavakoli

IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems. 2020 January; 10.1109/TSMC.2017.2738670

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