Wenjie Lai earned her Ph.D. in the field of flexible endoscopic surgical robotics from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, in 2021. She completed her undergraduate studies at NTU in 2015, graduating with the first-class honour in Mechatronics under the SM3 scholarship.Currently, she works as a research fellow at CREATE, NTU, in the Smart Grippers for Soft Robotics (SGSR) program. After completing her Ph.D., Dr.

Lai ventured into the industry at Ronovo Surgical, a Shanghai-based startup specializing in laparoscopic robots. There, she immersed herself in the development of performance metrics for robot-assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) instruments, gaining valuable insights into real-world challenges and industry demands. Dr. Lai has made several contributions to academia, with publications in prestigious journals such as TMECH, RAL, and ABME, and presentations at top-tier international conferences like ICRA. She actively serves as a reviewer for journals such as Soft Robotics, TMECH, and TIM, as well as conferences like IROS and Robosoft. She holds multiple patents in the field of sensors, surgical robots, and soft robots, including one granted in both the US and China. Dr. Lai's research interests include surgical robotics, soft robotics, haptic feedback, and sensor development.