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. As a member of RI’s BIG lab and Momentum lab, my research focuses on reasoning about and leveraging deformation in contact-rich robotic manipulation tasks.

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

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
Sep 10, 2024 Our paper on learning from demonstration for robotic pottery with structural priors was accepted to Humanoids 2024! :tada:
Jul 29, 2024 I gave an invited talk at USC’s Summer Robotics Seminar Series titled “Manipulation with and of soft bodies: learning to perceive and reason about deformations!” :tada:
Mar 27, 2024 We demoed our artistic robots (portrait drawing, co-painting, dexterous soft hands) at MARS! :relaxed:
Mar 14, 2024 Our LBR won ‘Best LBR’ at HRI 2024! :tada:

selected publications

  1. kinesoft_gif.gif
    KineSoft: Learning Proprioceptive Manipulation Policies with Soft Robot Hands
    Uksang Yoo ,  Jonathan Francis ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In [Under Review] , 2025
    PDF Project
  2. 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
  3. sonic.gif
    SonicBoom: Contact Localization Using Array of Microphones
    Moonyoung Lee ,  Uksang Yoo ,  Jean Oh ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  George Kantor ,  and  Oliver Kroemer
    In [Under Review] , 2025
    Project
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
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  10. 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
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  11. 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
  12. assembly.png
    In-Hand Pose Estimation with Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Electronics Assembly
    Uksang Yoo ,  and  Wenzhen Yuan
    2022
    PDF
  13. 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
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  14. 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
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