News
Lab timeline
Conferences, awards, grants, publications, and life at RIM Lab — newest first.
Invited talk at Smart&Soft 2026, Jeju (upcoming)
Prof. Jeong will give an invited talk, "AI-Optimized Multi-DoF Gripper & Hand Hardware and Control Platform," at Smart&Soft 2026 — the 9th Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering (SMN2026) and 8th Active Materials and Soft Mechatronics (AMSM2026) conference — on November 23 at Jeju Shinhwa World (conference Nov 21–25).
KSME Annual Meeting 2026, Jeju (upcoming)
Prof. Jeong will give two oral presentations at the KSME Annual Meeting (Nov 11–14, ICC Jeju): one on robot hand and gripper design and control optimized for physical-AI learning environments, and one on compliant robot hands and grippers for real-world use. Lab members will give six more oral presentations, covering tendon-tension sensing for robot hands, an ultra-low-impedance direct-drive gripper, torque-ripple compensation for actuator position control (Changwuk Ha, Nov 13), force-sensor-based grasp learning, torque-observation alignment for reinforcement learning, and harness-cable assembly automation.
Invited talk at KSRM 2026, Seoul (upcoming)
Prof. Jeong will give an invited talk, "Muscle, Tendon, Sensing and Feedback: What Robotic Hands Still Lack for Surgical Use," in the Robotic Microsurgery session of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Korean Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (KSRM 2026) on October 23 at the Sejong University Convention Hall, Seoul.
Prof. Jeong named a finalist for the IROS 2026 Outstanding Associate Editor Award
Prof. Jeong was selected as one of 16 finalists for the IROS Outstanding Associate Editor Award at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2026 (Sep 27 – Oct 1, Pittsburgh), announced at the conference award session. The award recognizes Associate Editors who make outstanding contributions to the paper review process; finalists were chosen from editor nominations by a selection committee chaired by Editor-in-Chief Eiichi Yoshida with General Chair Howie Choset and Program Chair Ross Hatton.
Harness assembly paper published in IEEE T-ASE
"Automated Terminal-to-Housing Assembly System for Flat Ribbon Cable Harness" (Eunkyu Choi and Joonho Seo as co-first authors, with Seungmin Lee) is now available in the Early Access area of IEEE Xplore, ahead of its issue in IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering. Congratulations!
Ginwoo Pyo selected for NRF Ph.D. Research Fellowship
Ph.D. student Ginwoo Pyo was selected for the 2026 NRF Basic Science and Engineering Research Program (Ph.D. Student Research Fellowship). His project, "High-resolution tendon-tension sensing based on nonlinear springs for robotic hands," will be supported with KRW 50 million over two years (Sep 2026 – Aug 2028). Congratulations!
New RIM Lab website launched
The lab homepage was fully rebuilt with updated research projects, publications, patents, and news.
Prof. Jeong selected as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar
Prof. Seokhwan Jeong was selected for the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program (PY 2027). He will conduct research at the University of California, Riverside from January to December 2027.
Graduation — Chunghyeon Lee (M.S.)
Chunghyeon Lee received his M.S. degree and will join Texas A&M University as a Ph.D. student. Congratulations!
ICROS 2026, Daegu EXCO
RIM Lab members participated in ICROS 2026 at Daegu EXCO, where the lab also presented its lab-introduction poster; Prof. Jeong served on the organizing committee.
AIM 2026, Genova, Italy
The lab attended IEEE/ASME AIM 2026 in Genova, Italy.
Workspace 3 moved to TE608A
The lab's third workspace moved from TE208 to the larger room 608A on the 6th floor of Teilhard Hall (July 1, 2026).
NANO KOREA 2026 — electroadhesive gripper demo
At the Nano Convergence R&D showcase of NANO KOREA 2026 (July 8-10, KINTEX), the lab demonstrated its 9-DOF direct-drive-differential gripper carrying the high-dielectric electroadhesion pads developed with Prof. Hyung-Jun Kim's group — grasping controlled by voltage alone.
KEITI environmental robotics project underway
Kickoff of the KEITI field-demand program on an unmanned, enclosed robotic–AI platform for fully automated hazardous-chemical analysis, jointly with the Sogang Bio-Interface Institute and Tesollo.
MOTIE R&D project selected (Digital Healthcare)
Our proposal for the bio-industry technology development program (digital healthcare) was accepted.
Undergraduate internship news
Updates from our undergraduate research internship program.
ICRA 2026, Vienna, Austria
RIM Lab presented and participated at IEEE ICRA 2026 in Vienna.
RIM Lab featured in Robot News
Prof. Jeong was featured in Robot News' 'Young Robot Engineers' series (no. 91).
KROC 2026 RED Show — Excellence Award
Edgar Lee, Junho Choi, and Chihyun Han received the Excellence Award (general category) at the KROC 2026 RED Show.
KROC 2026 participation
The lab participated in the Korea Robotics Society Annual Conference 2026.
Young Scientist Award, KROS
Prof. Seokhwan Jeong received the Young Scientist Award from the Korea Robotics Society, recognizing excellence in robotic actuation research.
KSME Annual Meeting 2025
RIM Lab participated in the KSME Annual Meeting 2025.
Lab renovation
Our research space was renovated for a better research environment.
NRF national agenda project selected
Funding awarded for robotic hand/gripper platform hardware and control technologies.
NRF Materials Global Young Connect selected
New project on high-dielectric elastomers for electroadhesive robotic end-effectors.
IEEE RAM review paper published
"Variable Transmission Mechanisms for Robotic Applications: A Review" was officially published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine.
ICROS 2025 Excellence Paper Award
Third consecutive year receiving a top paper award at ICROS.
ICRA 2025, Atlanta, USA
RIM Lab participated in IEEE ICRA 2025.
Teacher's Day lab meeting
A lab gathering to celebrate Teacher's Day.
KROC 2025 — RED Show & workshop
RED show exhibition and workshop presentations at KROC 2025.
ICROS 2024 — Excellence Paper Awards & Young Researcher Award
Jungwoo Hur and Hangyeol Song received excellence paper awards; Prof. Jeong received the Young Researcher Award.
Advanced Intelligent Systems journal cover
Our modular robotic platform for biological research was featured on the journal cover.
ICRA 2024, Yokohama, Japan
The lab participated in IEEE ICRA 2024.
KROC 2024 — paper awards & RED Show top honors
Excellence paper awards and top honors at the KROC 2024 RED Show.
Graduation — Sungho Chung, Seungmin Lee, Jaehyun Lee
Three M.S. students graduated. Congratulations!
Hangyeol Song selected as Fulbright Scholar
M.S. graduate Hangyeol Song was selected for the Fulbright scholarship for Ph.D. study in the USA.
Experimental setups
Robot experiment setups built up in the lab.
IROS 2023, Detroit, USA
The lab attended IEEE/RSJ IROS 2023.
Lab meeting with pizza
A casual lab gathering.
Graduation — Seung Kyo Jeong, Hangyeol Song
Two M.S. students graduated.
NRF Basic Research Lab (기초연구실) selected
Selected for the NRF Basic Research Laboratory program.
ICROS 2023, Samcheok
The lab participated in ICROS 2023.
MERRIC webinar
Invited webinar on high-performance anthropomorphic prosthetic hand systems by Prof. Jeong and Dr. Younggeol Cho.
KSME IT Convergence Excellence Award
M.S. student Sungho Chung received the excellence award from the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers.
KROC 2023
Conference participation and awards.
Sogang ME Academic Festival
The lab joined the department academic festival.
Invited talks — Dr. Younggeol Cho & Dr. Hyung-Tae Seo
Invited seminar talks at the lab.
First robot arm arrives at RIM Lab
The lab set up its first collaborative robot arm on the optical table.
Best Paper Award, KSPE 2021
Our work received the Best Paper Award at the Korean Society for Precision Engineering (KSPE) 2021 conference.
RIM Lab's first paper published
"Mechanical Variable Magnetic Gear Transmission: Concept and Preliminary Research" — the first paper produced by the lab — was published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
Industry-academia project with Daeha Wire & Cable
Development of a robotic gripper and manipulator system for automated harness-cable assembly (2022.04 – 2025.05).
TIPA Green Venture project with Ecube Labs
Advanced waste-collection vehicle systems for collection automation and operator assistance.
ICRA 2022, Philadelphia, USA
The lab participated in IEEE ICRA 2022.
Graduate School Research Award — Edgar Lee
Edgar Lee (Ph.D. student) was awarded 2nd place in the Graduate School Research Award at the Sogang ME academic festival.
Undergraduate interns win at the 20th Intelligent Creative Robot Contest
Minho Kim, Yunseok Seol, Hyunseok Lee, Jaewoo Kim, Kangil Yoon, Jisu Lim, and Siyoung Hong received awards at the 20th Intelligent Creative Robot Contest. Congratulations!
