Bio

Byungchul Kim is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at MIT working with Professor Daniela Rus in the Computer Science and Artificial Laboratory (CSAIL), since Jan 2023. Before joining MIT, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Soft Robotic Research Center (SRRC), working with Professor Kyu-jin Cho in the department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Dr. Kim completed his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, all from Seoul National University. His research interests include soft robotics, hand-wearable robotic systems, and under-actuated tendon-driven systems.

CV can be downloaded from here.

Research Interests

  • Soft Robotics
  • Soft wearable robotic system
  • Hand wearable robot
  • Under-actuated system
  • Tendon-driven actuator
  • Prosthetic hand
  • Simulation and control

Experience

Preiod Experience
Jan.2023
-
Present
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Distributed Robotics Lab, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Advisor: Prof. Daniela Rus
Mar.2023
-
Present
Research Affiliate
Harvard Microrobotics Lab, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Harvard
Project Investigator: Prof. Robert Wood
Sep.2020
-
Dec.2022
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Soft Robotics Research Center (SRRC), Biorobotics Lab, Seoul National University
Advisor: Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho

Education

Preiod Education
Mar.2014
-
Aug.2020
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Dissertation: Tendon-Driven Hand Wearable Robot using Slider-Tendon Linear Actuator
Advisor: Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho
Mar.2012
-
Feb.2014
M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Dissertation: A user-friendly assistive glove for SCI people performing natural writing posture
Advisor: Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho
Mar.2008
-
Feb.2012
B.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Advisor: Prof. Minsu Kim

Grant (as a PI)

Preiod Experience
Sep.2024
-
Aug.2025
Sejong Science Fellowship (funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea)
Generative Artificial Intelligence driven robot design and control (Role: PI)
70,000,000 KRW (~50,000 USD)

Invited Talks

Preiod Title
June.2024 Advancing Computational Co-Design: Generative AI to design the Soft Robot
Korea University
Jan.2024 How will the “future” researchers design/fabricate the robots?
Seoul National University
Jun.2023 Under-actuated Tendon-driven Soft Robots For the Human Assistance
UC Berkeley
Jun.2022 Building Competent Tendon-driven Soft Robots even with fewer actuators
MIT

Workshop Organization

Conference Information
ICRA
2024
(accepted)
Organizing committee, “Advancing wearable devices and applications through novel design, sensing, actuation, and AI”, workshop, IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA), May 2024. [site]
Biorob
2022
Organizing committee, “Advancing Hand Wearable Robotics through novel design, actuation, sensing, and control algorithm”, workshop, IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics & Biomechanics, August 2022. [pdf][site]

Research experience

  • Detail explanstions are described in the research page.
Preiod Research experience
2023
-
Present
Computational co-design framework
Generative AI for robot design **Oral presentation in 2023 NeurIPS**
Contributed the real-world robot design and fabrication
2023
-
Present
Project CETI
Understanding what whales are saying
Contributed wearable tag design
2023
-
Present
Hybrid rigid-soft hand development
Designing hybrid rigid-soft hand for kitchen work
Contributed the robotic hand design
2021
-
2023
Rehabilitation robot system for untact self-training
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea
Upper limb rehabilitation robot system for untact self-training.
Contributed the actuator design (Slider-Tendon Linear Actuator)
2020
-
2023
SoFT meta-Human
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
Soft wearable robots for everyday use.
Contributed the design, prototyping, and experiments.
2020
-
2022
GUI for the Hand Wearable Robot
GUI for the user to manipulate the hand wearable robot
Contributed the original idea, GUI design, coding
2020
-
2021
Soft Hand Wearable Robot for Poliomyelitis
Funded by National Rehabilitation Center of Korea
Customized hand wearable robot design for the poliomyelitis
Contributed the design, control for the safety
2017
-
2023
Exo-Glove Shell
Dissertation Topic for Ph. D
Hand wearable robot that assists the thumb opposition with under-actuation mechanism.
Contributed the original idea, design, prototyping, experiments, and analyzing the data.
2020
-
2023
POE Grasp
Tendon-driven robot simulation toolkit using Matlab
Contributed the original idea, coding, and validation.
2017
-
2021
Tendon-driven Actuators for the Soft Wearable Robots
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea
Slider-Tendon Linear Actuator (Dissertation Topic for Ph. D) **Exhibited in 2020 CES / 2019 RoboSoft / 2022 IROS**
Contributed the original idea, design, prototyping, experiments, and analyzing the data.
Slack Enabling Actuator
Stabilized the actuator performance and reduced the actuator size.
Series/Parallel Elastic Actuator
Designed series/parallel elastic actuator for the tendon-driven soft wearable robot.
2020
-
2021
Exo-Index
Hand wearable robot generating three different postures using machine learning technic.
Contributed the original idea, design, prototyping, experiments, and analyzing the data.
2020
-
2021
Exo-Glove Poly II **Exhibited in 2020 CES / 2022 IROS**
Polymer based hand wearable robot for SCI people.
Contributed the actuator design.
2017
-
2020
Development of Biomimetic Bionic Hand Mechanism
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
Prosthetic hand for the amputee
Contributed the design of tendon-driven actuators, tendon routings, and electric circuit.
2014
-
2015
Under-actuated bionic arm system **Technology transfer**
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
Under-actuated prosthetic hand for the amputee
Contributed the under-actuated tendon routing design.
2013
-
2017
GRIPIT **Minister`s Prize, 16th Industrial Technology Award of the Month**
Active Hand Assist Device for the People with Spinal Cord Injury
Contributed the original idea, design, prototyping, experiments, and analyzing the data.
Co-worked with SMT Inc.
Received $2,000 investment through social funding (KaKao Story Funding)
2013
-
2014
Development of an Embedded Control Module for Rehabilitation Devices
Funded by National Rehabilitation Center of Korea
Rehabilitation devices for the stroke people.
Participated in clinical trials with muscular disease patients and SCI patients
Co-work with National Rehabilitation Center of Korea and NT Research Inc.
2012
-
2015
Exo-Glove
Funded by National Rehabilitation Center of Korea
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Education and Science Technology
Hand wearable robot for the spinal cord injury
Participated in clinical trials with muscular disease patients and SCI patients
Co-work with National Rehabilitation Center of Korea

Technical Skills

Categories Technical Skills
Various
prototyping
experiences
Exo-Glove
Bionic arm
GRIPIT
Embedded control module for rehabilitation devices
Experimental setups
Actuator design
and control
Tendon-driven actuators for the soft wearable robots
Low-level control
CAN open communication
Clinical test
experiences
Clinical test of Exo-Glove
GRIPIT
Bionic arm
Rehabilitation devices for the stroke patient
Controller design
and simulation
MATLAB
Labiew
QTcreator
Control system
prototyping
ROS
CompactRIO
FPGA
STM
Arduino
Analysis MATLAB
Working model 2D
CAD design SOLIDWORKS
CATIA
Manufacturing CNC milling
laser cutter
3D printing
Circuitdesign
and Artworks
KiCAD
Eagle CAD

Scholarship

Preiod Scholarship
Jan. 2023 - Jan. 2024 Biomedical Global Talent Nurturing Program
Funded by Korea Health Industry Development Institute
Sep. 2016 - Dec. 2016
Sep. 2012 - Dec. 2012
Mar. 2012 - Jun. 2012
Brain Korea 21 Research Scholarship
Funded by National Research Foundation of Korea
Mar. 2014 - Jun. 2014 Lecture & Research Scholarship
Funded by Seoul National University
Sep. 2011 - Dec. 2011
Sep. 2010 - Dec. 2010
Sep. 2009 - Dec. 2009
Superior Academic Performance
Funded by Seoul National University

Awards

Preiod Awards
Dec.2016 Excellence award, Government 3.0 National Participation and Collaboration Contest
Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea
Nov.2012 Excellence award, Creative design competition
Seoul National University, Korea
Nov.2012 Bronze prize, International Co-Creative Design Competition
Seoul National University, Korea

Teaching Experience

Preiod Teaching Experience
Mar. 2017 - Jun. 2017 Teaching Assistant
Introduction for soft robotics (Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho)
Seoul National University
Mar. 2012 - Jun. 2012 Teaching Assistant
Mechanical System Modeling and Control (Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho)
Seoul National University
Mar. 2020 - Dec. 2020
Mar. 2019 - Jun. 2019
Mar. 2018 - Dec. 2018
Mar. 2017 - Dec. 2017
Mar. 2012 - Dec. 2012
B.S Thesis/UROP Tutoring
Led the B.S. Thesis of three undergraduate students (Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho)
Led four students for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities (Prof. Kyu-Jin Cho)
Seoul National University
Sep. 2023 - Dec. 2023 Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program at MIT
Participated the Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program at MIT. [Certificate]

Verified Peer Reviews

Year Journal/Confernece & Number of reviews
Total Total number of the verified peer reviews: 21
RAS paper review record (without the Paper ID and Paper title) is here.
The other paper review record is here.
2024 Soft Robotics: 1
IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob): 3
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA): 1
2023 Soft Robotics: 2
IEEE Transactions on Haptics (ToH): 1
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL): 1
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA): 1
2022 IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob): 1
IEEE Transactions on Haptics (ToH): 2
IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation (TNSRE): 2
2021 IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RAL): 1
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA): 1
International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (UR): 1
IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation (TNSRE): 1
2018 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS): 1
IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation (TNSRE): 1

Contact & CV

For any inquires, you can reach me via email: bckim@mit.edu.

CV can be downloaded from here.

Update: 2024/01/13