A simple function to load a .mat file using scipy from Python. It uses a recursive approach for parsing properly Matlab' objects

load_mat.py

    import scipy.io as scio
    from typing import Any, Dict
    import numpy as np
    
    
    def load_matfile(filename: str) -> Dict:
        def parse_mat(element: Any):
            # lists (1D cell arrays usually) or numpy arrays as well
            if element.__class__ == np.ndarray and element.dtype == np.object_ and len(element.shape) > 0:
                return [parse_mat(entry) for entry in element]

            # matlab struct
            if element.__class__ == scio.matlab.mio5_params.mat_struct:
                return {fn: parse_mat(getattr(element, fn)) for fn in element._fieldnames}

            # regular numeric matrix, or a scalar
            return element

        mat = scio.loadmat(filename, struct_as_record=False, squeeze_me=True)
        dict_output = dict()

        # not considering the '__header__', '__version__', '__globals__'
        for key, value in mat.items():
            if not key.startswith('_'):
                dict_output[key] = parse_mat(mat[key])
        return dict_output


if __name__ == "__main__":
  file = "example.mat"
  # I am assuming that file exists! otherwise, check for FileNotFoundError
  dict_mat = load_matfile(file)