Uksang Yoo (유욱상)

Robotics PhD Student at CMU RI

prof_pic.jpg

Newell-Simon Hall

Hamerschlag Dr.

Pittsburgh, PA, USA 15213

I am a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University in the Robotics Institute (RI) co-advised by Jean Oh and Jeffrey Ichnowski. I also work as a research scientist intern with robot learning group at Bosch AI (Summer 2025) and Meta (Fall 2025). As a member of RI’s BIG lab and Momentum lab, my research focuses on leveraging robot hands’ unique morphologies to perform dexterous and contact-rich manipulation tasks in ways that exploit each morphology’s distinct capabilities.

My work spans two main areas: developing methods to utilize robot compliance for dexterous and delicate manipulation, and reasoning about continuous deformations of soft objects during contact-rich interactions. This research combines theoretical foundations in discrete differential geometry, machine learning, and soft body mechanics with practical applications in deploying dexterous robots to the real world.

I received my B.Sc. in Mathematics (2020) and in Mechanical Engineering (2021) at the University of Texas at Austin, where I developed my interest in continuous deformations and continuum structure representation. My research is supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

news

Oct 11, 2025 I gave a rising star talk at the North East Robotics Symposium (NERC)! :tada:
Sep 29, 2025 I presented our paper (Oral) at the Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL) on learning soft hand policies! Recording :mega:
Aug 30, 2025 Our work on simultaneous vision-based shape estimation and tactile signal reconstruction got accepted to The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)! :tada:
Aug 01, 2025 Our work on learning from deformation-based demonstration for dexterous manipulation was accepted to Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL)! :tada:
May 19, 2025 I’m co-organizing a ICRA 2025 workshop on Acoustic Sensing and Representations for Robotics Workshop Site!
Mar 08, 2025 Our work on contact-rich manipulation of hair was nominated for best paper at ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in Melbourne, Australia! :tada: Project Site!
Dec 02, 2024 Our work on contact-rich hair manipulation for assitive care was accepted to ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI)! :tada:
Nov 26, 2024 Our work on learning from demonstration with structural priors (Project Site) was selected as a ‘Best Oral Paper’ finalist at IEEE Humanoids 2024! :tada:
Nov 09, 2024 I’m co-organizing a CoRL 2024 workshop on lifelong learning for home robots Workshop Site!
Sep 27, 2024 We presented at ICRA@40 on the preliminary results of behavior cloning for clay manipulation and it was featured on IEEE Spectrum

selected publications

  1. dymohair.gif
    DYMO-Hair: Generalizable Volumetric Dynamics Modeling for Robot Hair Manipulation
    Chengyang Zhao ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Arkadeep Narayan Chaudhury ,  Giljoo Nam ,  Jonathan Francis ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  and  Jean Oh
    In arXiv , 2025
    Project
  2. kinesoft_gif.gif
    KineSoft: Learning Proprioceptive Manipulation Policies with Soft Robot Hands
    Uksang Yoo ,  Jonathan Francis ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL) , 2025
    [Oral]
    PDF Project Recording
  3. Vibemesh.gif
    Visuo-Acoustic Hand Pose and Contact Estimation
    Yuemin Mao* ,  Uksang Yoo* ,  Yunchao Yao ,  Shahram Najam Syed ,  Luca Bondi ,  Jonathan Francis ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In arXiv , 2025
    PDF
  4. pneugelsight.png
    PneuGelSight: Soft Robotic Vision-Based Proprioception and Tactile Sensing
    Ruohan Zhang ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Yichen Li ,  Arpit Argawal ,  and  Wenzhen Yuan
    In International Journal on Robotics Research (IJRR) , 2025
    Project
  5. mohair.gif
    Soft and Compliant Contact-Rich Hair Manipulation and Care
    Uksang Yoo ,  Nathaniel Dennler ,  Eliot Xing ,  Maja Mataric ,  Stefanos Nikolaidis ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  and  Jean Oh
    In International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) , 2025
    [Best Paper Finalist]
    PDF Project
  6. sonic.gif
    SonicBoom: Contact Localization Using Array of Microphones
    Moonyoung Lee ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Jean Oh ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  George Kantor ,  and  Oliver Kroemer
    In IEEE robotics and automation letters , 2025
    Project
  7. pen.gif
    Soft Robotic Dynamic In-Hand Pen Spinning
    Yunchao Yao ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Jean Oh ,  Christopher G. Atkeson ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) , 2025
    PDF Project
  8. ropotter.gif
    RoPotter: Toward Robotic Pottery and Deformable Object Manipulation with Structural Priors
    Uksang Yoo* ,  Adam Hung* ,  Jonathan Francis ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids) , 2024
    [Best Oral Paper Finalist]
    PDF Project
  9. rss.gif
    MOE-Touch More Deformation: Shape-Based Soft Robotic Contact Estimation for Manipulation
    Uksang Yoo ,  Sarvesh Patil ,  Eliot Xing ,  Zeynep Temel ,  Oliver Kroemer ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  and  Jean Oh
    In [Under Review] , 2024
    PDF
  10. dei.png
    Inclusion in Assistive Haircare Robotics: Practical and Ethical Considerations in Hair Manipulation
    Uksang Yoo ,  Nathaniel Dennler ,  Sarvesh Patil ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In Third Workshop on Inclusive HRI , 2024
    PDF
  11. lbr.gif
    MOE-Hair: Toward Soft and Compliant Contact-rich Hair Manipulation and Care [Best LBR at HRI 2024]
    Uksang Yoo ,  Nathaniel Dennler ,  Maja Mataric ,  Stefanos Nikolaidis ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In Late Breaking Report, International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) , 2024
    [Best LBR]
    PDF
  12. poe.gif
    POE: Acoustic Soft Robotic Proprioception for Omnidirectional End-effectors
    Uksang Yoo ,  Ziven Lopez ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  and  Jean Oh
    In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) , 2024
    HTML
  13. icra.gif
    Toward Zero-Shot Sim-to-Real Transfer Learning for Pneumatic Soft Robot 3D Proprioceptive Sensing
    Uksang Yoo ,  Hanwen Zhao ,  Alvaro Altamirano ,  Wenzhen Yuan ,  and  Chen Feng
    In 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) , 2023
    HTML
  14. tmech.png
    Influence of antagonistic tensions on distributed friction forces of multisegment tendon-driven continuum manipulators with irregular geometry
    Yang Liu ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Seungbeom Ha ,  S Farokh Atashzar ,  and  Farshid Alambeigi
    IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2022
    HTML
  15. assembly.png
    In-Hand Pose Estimation with Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Electronics Assembly
    Uksang Yoo ,  and  Wenzhen Yuan
    2022
    PDF
  16. ral.gif
    Analytical Design of a Pneumatic Elastomer Robot With Deterministically Adjusted Stiffness
    Uksang Yoo ,  Yang Liu ,  Ashish D Deshpande ,  and  Farshid Alamabeigi
    IEEE robotics and automation letters, 2021
    HTML
  17. Toward Analytical Modeling and Evaluation of Curvature-Dependent Distributed Friction Force in Tendon-Driven Continuum Manipulators
    Yang Liu ,  Seong Hyo Ahn ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Alexander R. Cohen ,  and  Farshid Alambeigi
    In 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) , 2020
    HTML