Joohyung Kim

About

Joohyung Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. He serves as the director of KIMLAB, the Kinetic Intelligent Machine LAB. His research focuses on the development and application of intelligent machine systems, with an emphasis on kinetic and robotic technologies. Dr. Kim's work involves advancing the understanding and engineering of intelligent, dynamic systems, contributing to the fields of robotics and electrical engineering through innovative research and leadership.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Security
• Psychology
• Business
• Surgery
• Engineering
• Computer graphics (images)
• Social psychology
• Database

Selected publications

• Realistic and Interactive Robot Gaze

  2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) · 2020 · 30 citations

  This paper describes the development of a system for lifelike gaze in human-robot interactions using a humanoid Audio-Animatronics <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">®</sup> bust. Previous work examining mutual gaze between robots and humans has focused on technical implementation. We present a general architecture that seeks not only to create gaze interactions from a technological standpoint, but also through the lens of character ani…

  DOI

• Low-Cost and Easy-to-Build Soft Robotic Skin for Safe and Contact-Rich Human–Robot Collaboration

  IEEE Transactions on Robotics · 2024-01-01 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Although many soft robotic skins have been introduced, their use has been hindered due to practical limitations such as difficulties in manufacturing, poor accessibility, and cost inefficiency. To solve this, we present a low-cost, easy-to-build soft robotic skin utilizing air-pressure sensors and 3D-printed pads. In our approach, we utilized digital fabrication and ROS to facilitate the creation and use of the robotic skin. The skin pad was fabricated by printing thermoplastic urethane (TPU) an…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ringbot: Monocycle Robot With Legs

  IEEE Transactions on Robotics · 2024-01-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This paper presents the development and evaluation of Ringbot, a novel leg-wheel transformer robot incorporating a monocycle mechanism with legs. Ringbot aims to provide versatile mobility by replacing the driver and driving components of a conventional monocycle vehicle with legs mounted on compact driving modules inside the wheel. The paper covers the hardware and software implementation of a prototype robot. The Ringbot prototype features a wheel and two driving modules located inside, each e…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Fully 3D printable Robot Hand and Soft Tactile Sensor based on Air-pressure and Capacitive Proximity Sensing

  2024-05-13 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  Soft tactile sensors can enable robots to grasp objects easily and stably by simultaneously providing tactile data and mechanical compliance to robotic hands. If there are low-cost and easy-to-build robotic hands equipped with soft tactile sensors, they would be highly accessible and facilitate many robotics projects. To this end, we propose an accessible robot hand capable of tactile sensing, which can be produced through digital fabrication. We made the robot hand using commercial servo motors…

  PublisherDOI

• CHILD (Controller for Humanoid Imitation and Live Demonstration): A Whole-Body Humanoid Teleoperation System

  2025-09-30 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Recent advances in teleoperation have demonstrated robots performing complex manipulation tasks. However, existing works rarely support whole-body joint-level teleoperation for humanoid robots, limiting the diversity of tasks that can be accomplished. This work presents Controller for Humanoid Imitation and Live Demonstration (CHILD), a compact reconfigurable teleoperation system that enables joint level control over humanoid robots. CHILD fits within a standard baby carrier, allowing the operat…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sungjoon Choi

  20 shared

• Katsu Yamane

  17 shared

• Wonmo Sung

  Anyang University

  15 shared

• Sankalp Yamsani

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  10 shared

• Alexander Alspach

  Walt Disney (United States)

  10 shared

• Kazuki Shin

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  9 shared

• Matthew Pan

  9 shared

• Kevin G. Gim

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  8 shared

Labs

• KIMLABPI

Education

• Ph.D., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

  Seoul National University

  2012

• B.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

  Seoul National University

  2001

Awards & honors

• IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humano…
• IEEE/RSJ International Conference of Intelligent Robots and…
• IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation (IC…
• IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive…

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