professor
Prof. Ki-Uk Kyung 경기욱
Email : kyungku {at} kaist.ac.kr
Tel : +82-42-350-3245
Current Position
2025 ~ present Affiliated Faculty, Tandon School of Engineering, NYU
2022 ~ present Director, Human-Robot Interaction Research Center, KAIST
2018 ~ present Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST
2018 ~ present Adjunct Professor, Robotics Graduate School Program, KAIST
Research Interests
Soft Robotics, Intelligent Human-Robot Interaction, Flexible actuators & sensors, Haptics
Education
1999 B.S. Mechanical Engineering, KAIST
2000 M.S. Mechanical Engineering, KAIST
2004 Visiting Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE)
2006 Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, KAIST
Work Experience
2023 ~ 2024 Visiting/Adjunct Professor, Tandon School of Engineering, NYU
2013 ~ 2017 Director of Pioneer Research Center for Reconfigurable Lens, Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Korea
2011 ~ 2017 Director, Creative Research Section for Transparent Transducer and User Experience at ETRI
2006 ~ 2017 Principal Research Scientist, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI, Korea)
2007 ~ 2017 Adjunct Professor, Department of Computer Software and Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST)
2009 ~ 2011 Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST
2008 ~ 2009 Visiting Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE)
Professional Activities
● Chairs/Members of Professional Societies and Organizations
– Co-Chair : IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics, 2017 ~ 2021
– Steering Committee Member : Asiahaptics Society, 2018.01 ~ present
– Technical Committee on VAR : IEEE Consumer Electronics, 2021.04 ~ present
– Delegate Member : International Standards Organization (ISO), ISO/TC159/SC4
● Chairs of International Conferences
– General Chair : IEEE World Haptics 2025
– Program Chair : Asiahaptics 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022
– Program Chair : IEEE Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) 2023
– Program Chair : IEEE Ubiquitous Robots (UR) 2024
– Finance Chair : IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) 2019
– Local Chair : IEEE World Haptics 2013
– Local Chair : IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2016
– Demo Chair : IEEE World Haptics 2017
– Demo Chair : IEEE/ACM Human-Robot Interaction 2019
– Symposium Chair : International Conference on Active Materials and Soft Mechatronics (AMSM) 2019
– Publicity Chair : IEEE World Haptics 2021
● Editors of International Journals
– Guest Editor : IEEE Transactions on Haptics – Special Issue on Applications of Smart Materials to Haptics, 2018
– Guest Editor : Advanced Robotics - Special issue on embodied haptic technology for human augmentation, 2021
– Associate Editor : IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2019.08 ~ 2025.01
– Associate Editor : Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2019.08 ~ present
– Associate Editor : Frontiers in Nanotechnology, 2019.08 ~ present
– Associate Editor : IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 2023.04 ~ present
– Associate Editor : Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2023.04 ~ present
– Senior Editor : IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2025.01 ~ present
Keynote and Guest Lecture
– Aslla Symposium (2019.01.31)
– International Conference on Active Materials and Soft Mechatronics (2019.10.17)
– International Display Workshops (IDW' 19) (2019.11.28)
– International Conference on Mechatronics and Robots (2022.12.10)
Teaching Experience
– Human-System Interaction (UST, 2007)
– Human-Machine Interaction-Haptics (UST, 2009)
– Human-Computer Interaction Advanced Class: Haptics Project (UST, 2009)
– Engineering Approach based on Cognitive Science (UST, 2010)
– Mechatronics System Design (KAIST, 2018 – 2020)
– Soft Robotics: Biomimetic Sensors and Actuators (KAIST, 2018 – )
– Applied Electronics (KAIST, 2019 – )
– Human-Robot Interaction (KAIST, 2023 – )
– Special Topics in Robotics: SOFT ROBOTICS (NYU, 2024 – )
– Introduction to Robotics Engineering (KAIST, 2024 – )
Honors and Awards
– Best Paper Award, The 20th Korea Robotics Society Annual Conference (KRoC) (2025.02.14)
– Best Poster Award, 2024 MRS fall (2024.12.04)
– Best Demonstration Award, Asiahaptics 2024 (2024.11.01)
– Best Paper, Demonstration, and Popular Idea Award, Korea Haptics Conference 2024 (2024.08.21)
– Best Demonstration, Merit Award, Korea Haptics Conference 2023 (2023.11.24)
– Best Lecture Award, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) (2023.10.31)
– Best Presentation Award, Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers (KIISE) (2023.02.02)
– Oh Junho Academic Award, Korea Robot Society (KROS) (2022.12.02)
– Best Demonstration Award, Asiahaptics 2022 (2022.11.14)
– Most Active Technical Committee Award, IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION SOCIETY (2022.05.26)
– Best Lecture Award, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) (2022.02.16)
– Applied science 2020 Best Paper Awards in Mechanical Engineering, MDPI (2022.01.31)
– Top Prize, Advanced Manufacturing Intelligence Innovation Center in KAIST (2022.01.12)
– Best Paper Award, The 16th Korea Robotics Society Annual Conference (KRoC) (2021.05.21)
– Top Prize, Advanced Manufacturing Intelligence Innovation Center in KAIST (2020.12.22)
– Best Paper Award, The 4th International Conference on Active Materials and Soft Mechatronics (AMSM) (2019.10.19)
– Academic Award, The 4th International Conference on Active Materials and Soft Mechatronics (AMSM) (2019.10.19)
– Best Student Innovation Challenge Award, IEEE World Haptics Conference (2019.07.09)
– Competition Award <The 3rd Place for Wearable Challenge>, IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) (2019.04.18)
– IEEE TCH Early Career Award, IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics (2015.06.25)
– Primary Minister’s Prize for Science, National Science Day 2015 (2015.04.21)
– Best Demonstration Award, Asiahaptics 2014 (2014.11.20)
– Most Popular Demonstration Award, Asiahaptics 2014 (2014.11.20)
– Best Paper Award, ICROS 2014 (2014.05.30)
– Best Paper Award(Minister’s Prize), Ministry of Information and Communication (2007.12.26)
– Outstanding Best Paper Award, Korea HCI2007 Conference (2007.02.06)
– Best Paper Award, next generation PC 2005 International Conference (2005.11.13)
– Best Student Paper Award, Student Paper Competition, 2000 (2000.05.12)
