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Towards Human-Friendly Robots

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
ECE Illinois
Location
B02 CSL
Date
Mar 28, 2019   10:00 am  
Speaker
Joohyung Kim | Research Scientist in Disney Research
Views
84
Originating Calendar
Illinois ECE Calendar

Abstract: 

The demand for robots which can work closely and interact physically with human has been growing. Such robots can already be found guiding and entertaining people in some places, such as stores, airports and amusement parks. However, despite advances in many robotic technologies, there are very few robotic applications to meet the public expectations. To make robots help humans in daily life, we need better understanding of human motions and behaviors, better methods to express them through robots, and better design to interact with human naturally and safely. 

In this talk, I will present my works to make human-friendly robots by means of motion control, robot design and human-robot interaction. In the first part of my talk, I will start with my study on biped walking, one of human's important and unique behaviors. The talk will cover various mechanisms and methods I developed for better walking, including the virtual gravity control method in Samsung Electronics. And then I will describe my works in Disney to make interactive robots capturing interesting features from animation characters. In the latter part, I will present my recent works to utilize learning methods for robot control and how these works are related to my research direction.

Biography:

Joohyung Kim is currently a Research Scientist in Disney Research. His research focuses on design and control for humanoid robots, system for motion learning in robot hardware, and safe human-robot interaction. He received BSE and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) from Seoul National University, Korea, in 2001 and 2012. Prior to joining Disney Research, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University for DARPA Robotics Challenge in 2013. From 2009 to 2012, he was a Research Staff Member in Samsung Electronics, Korea, developing biped walking controllers for humanoid robots.

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