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 the 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. 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

Jan 31, 2026 Our paper on learning dynamics for robot-hair interactions was accepted to ICRA 2026! :tada:
Jan 15, 2026 Our workshop on Real2Sim2Real was accepted to ICRA 2026! We look forward to your submissions :tada:
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:

selected publications

  1. softact.gif
    Functional Force-Aware Retargeting from Virtual Human Demos to Soft Robot Policies
    Uksang Yoo ,  Mengjia Zhu ,  Evan Pezent ,  Jom Preechayasomboon ,  Jean Oh ,  Jeffrey Ichnowski ,  Amir Memar ,  Ben Abbatematteo ,  Homanga Bharadhwaj ,  Ashish Deshpande ,  and  Harsha Prahlad
    In arXiv , 2026
    Soft Robots
    Project
  2. aslip.gif
    A-SLIP: Acoustic Sensing for Continuous In-hand Slip Estimation
    Uksang Yoo* ,  Yuemin Mao* ,  Jean Oh ,  and  Jeffrey Ichnowski
    In arXiv , 2026
    Tactile Sensing
    Project
  3. 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 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) , 2026
    Deformable Manipulation
    Project
  4. 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]
    Soft Robots Award
    PDF Project Recording
  5. 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
    Tactile Sensing
    PDF
  6. 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
    Soft Robots Tactile Sensing
    Project
  7. 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]
    Soft Robots Tactile Sensing Deformable Manipulation Award
    PDF Project
  8. 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
    Tactile Sensing
    Project
  9. 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
    Soft Robots
    PDF Project
  10. 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]
    Deformable Manipulation Award
    PDF Project
  11. 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
    Soft Robots Tactile Sensing Deformable Manipulation
    PDF
  12. 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
    Deformable Manipulation
    PDF
  13. 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]
    Soft Robots Tactile Sensing Deformable Manipulation Award
    PDF
  14. 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
    Soft Robots Tactile Sensing
    HTML
  15. 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
    Soft Robots
    HTML
  16. 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
  17. assembly.png
    In-Hand Pose Estimation with Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Electronics Assembly
    Uksang Yoo ,  and  Wenzhen Yuan
    2022
    Tactile Sensing
    PDF
  18. 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
    Soft Robots
    HTML
  19. 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