Professor Jiwhan Yoo of KAIST Appointed as 'Asia Representative' for IEEE Robotics and Automation Society

KAIST announced on the 3rd that Professor Yoo Ji-hwan of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been appointed as a decision-making committee member representing the Asia region in the Robotics and Automation Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

IEEE is considered the world's largest society in fields such as electrical and electronic engineering, computer science, robotics, and communications. With this appointment, Professor Yoo will represent Asia and voice opinions on the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society decision-making committee for three years starting this month.

Professor Yoo's appointment is regarded as a significant achievement, as it marks Korea taking over the Asia regional representative position that had been monopolized by Japan and China.

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society decision-making committee is a key organization that leads policy decisions and directions in the field of robotics and automation within IEEE. Only six members worldwide are elected annually, and the total number of committee members is limited to 18.

In particular, Professor Yoo was recently selected as an IEEE Fellow and has also begun serving as the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics starting this month. The IEEE Fellow status is awarded to a select few researchers among IEEE members who have demonstrated outstanding research achievements and contributions. It is the highest grade of membership, granted to only the top 0.1% of researchers among all IEEE members.

Professor Yoo is a world-renowned expert in the fields of haptics and teleoperation. He has been recognized for his contributions to the field through numerous international journal papers and patents, addressing issues such as stability and time delay.

Professor Yoo stated, “Taking this opportunity as a committee member, I will strive to represent the interests of Korea and the Asian robotics society in the international community and widely promote the status of Korea’s robotics and automation technology.”

Meanwhile, Professor Yoo earned his master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from KAIST, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Washington in the United States and the German Aerospace Center. Since 2019, he has been serving as a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at KAIST. He also concurrently serves as the head professor of the KAIST Interdisciplinary Robotics Major.

In 2018, he served as the general chair of the international conference AsiaHaptics and as the editor-in-chief of the World Haptics Conference.