Next Gen Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Group

The NYU-KAIST Next Gen of Robotics and AI center’s vision is to design safe, autonomous, intelligent, and interactive robots to assist humans in complex or dangerous tasks. Specifically, the principal investigators across the two institutions aim to combine complementary expertises on learning, perception, control, optimization, mechanical design, and human–machine interaction and interfaces to revolutionize robotics research.

These will impact and contribute to advancing several priority research areas and goals the group has currently identified.

Photo of some Next Gen Robotics and AI group members and NYU President-Designate, Linda Mills

These include, but are not limited to

Agile and collaborative robots: Study novel perception-action models and algorithms to speed up task execution as well as collaboration among robots
Human-centered robotics: Study safe novel algorithms and mechanical designs to facilitate human–robot physical and cognitive collaboration
Medical robotics: Establish novel medical procedures through intelligent robots
Robot locomotion and manipulation: Design novel optimal robot motion behaviors and environment interaction capabilities in challenging environments

The proposed scientific methodologies and approaches will produce a paradigm shift in the way current tasks are currently executed, boosting precision, accuracy, speed, safety, and resiliency in several applications such as search and rescue, monitoring, rehabilitation, inspection, construction, transportation, entertainment, and urban living.

This research partnership offers several unique and original research and education platforms with complementary efforts across both institutions. These will guarantee multiple sustainable, ethical, and world-renowned competitive future research and education programs in the area of robotics and AI. Other NYU-KAIST research areas can also strongly contribute to this vision due to the broad spectrum of topics it covers as well as the fundamental roles robotics and AI will play in the future of human well-being.

Inaugural Seminar

February 2, 2023
New York University - Brooklyn, NYC

YOUTUBE MEDIA

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Speakers

Prof. David Hyunchul Shim

School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea

"From Theory to Policy: How KAIST Robotics Help Changed the World"

Abstract

In this talk, David Hyunchul Shim, Professor of School of Electrical Engineering and former Director of KAIST Robotics Institute (’19-’22), will introduce his pioneering work on developing unmanned aerial vehicles from 1990s to soon-to-be deployed future transportation system by working with Korean government and then International Civil Aviation Organization. He will also introduce his work for indoor flying drone, which was a part of Team CoSTAR for DARPA Subterranenan Challenge as well as his research on ground mobility including self-driving passenger cars, unmanned delivery vehicles with mobile manipulator, and Indy Autonomous Challenge. Finally, he will introduce his latest work on pilot robot, a joint work with other professors in AI and robotics.

Biography

D. Hyunchul Shim received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical design and production engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, in 1991 and 1993, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, in 2000. He worked with Hyundai Motor Company and Maxtor Corporation, from 1993 to 1994 and from 2001 to 2005, respectively. In 2007, he joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea, and is currently a tenured Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering. He is an Adjunct Professor with the Graduate School of AI, KAIST. He is also the Director of the Korea Civil RPAS Research Center. His research interests include control systems, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. He was part of the DARPA SubT CoSTAR team.

Prof. Jee-Hwan Ryu

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea

"Research Activities on Robot-X Interactive Systems at IRiS Lab"

Abstract

This seminar will introduce recent research activities on Robot-X (human, robot, or environments) interactive systems in Interactive Robotic Systems (IRiS) Lab at KAIST. Firstly, research on stable and transparent control of haptic and telerobotic systems will be introduced. Several nonlinear control approaches proposed by IRiS Lab, including TDPA, MBPA, ISS, SSI, and UVI, will be briefly presented with their experimental performance. Secondly, research on soft robots and actuators in IRiS lab will be reviewed. Wearable exo-suit research based on a muscle-like soft tendon-driven actuator, Twisted String Actuator (TDA), will be introduced with several applications to construction, farming, and rehabilitation. In addition, a plant-inspired soft-growing robot, a vine robot, will be presented. Unique locomotion, challenges, and exciting applications of it will be introduced. Lastly, recent research on tele-driving and mapless autonomous vehicle technology will be briefly covered as well.

Biography

Education Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, KAIST (2002) M.S. Mechanical Engineering, KAIST (1997) B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Inha Univ. (1995)
2019~Present: Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST
2016~2019: CEO, Bio-Rob Inc. 2016~2017: Visiting Professor, Stanford, AI Lab
2005~2019: Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, KOREATECH 2003~2005: Research Professor, KAIST
2002~2003: Visiting Professor, German Aerospace Center
2002~2003: Post-Doc, University of Washington

Committee Members

KAIST:

NYU: