My research focuses on improving the mobility of centimeter-scale robots.
Their small size lets them reach confined spaces, and their light weight makes it practical to deploy many at once—an advantage for exploration.
But small scale also makes movement harder: bumps, gaps, and clutter that seem minor to us can become major barriers for a centimeter-scale robot.
In contrast, small creatures move with specialized locomotion to adaptively move on their environments.
Inspired by these biological strategies, I build small locomotive robots with improved mobility.
Still, I believe today’s small robots have not yet reached the level of their biological counterparts.
Cockroaches, for example, traverse an impressive range of terrain by utilizing lightweight, compliant bodies with high-traction legs.
This gap is what motivates my work, and my research dream is to create small robots that can move across any environment.
Jumping-Crawling Robot
Agile and Energy-Efficient Jumping-Crawling Robot Through Rapid Transition of Locomotion and Enhanced Jumping Height Adjustment
S.-H. Chae, S.-M. Baek, J. Lee, and K.-J. Cho, “Agile and Energy-Efficient Jumping-Crawling Robot Through Rapid Transition of Locomotion and Enhanced Jumping Height Adjustment,” in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (I.F. 6.1), 2022, 27.6: 5890-5901.
Development of the sub-10 cm, sub-100 g jumping–crawling robot
Yim, S. * , Baek, S. M. * , Lee, P., Chae, S. H., Lee, J., Huh, S. H., … & Cho, K. J., “Development of the sub-10 cm, sub-100 g jumping–crawling robot”, in Intelligent Service Robotics (I.F. 2.3), 2024, 17.1: 19-32.
JumpRoACH: A Trajectory-Adjustable Integrated Jumping-Crawling Robot
Gwang-Pil Jung, Carlos S. Casarez, Jongeun Lee, Sang-Min Baek, So-Jung Yim, Soo-Hwan Chae, Ronald S. Fearing, and Kyu-Jin Cho, “JumpRoACH: A Trajectory-Adjustable Integrated Jumping-Crawling Robot”, in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (I.F. 6.1), 2019, 24.3: 947-958.
Jumping-Gliding Robot
Ladybird beetle inspired compliant origami
Baek, S. M., Yim, S., Chae, S. H., Lee, D. Y., & Cho, K. J., “Ladybird beetle–inspired compliant origami”, in Science Robotics (I.F. 26.1), 2020, 5.41: eaaz6262
Crawling Robot
CaseCrawler: A Lightweight and Low-Profile Crawling Phone Case Robot
J. Lee, G. P. Jung, S. M. Baek, S. H. Chae, S. Yim, W. Kim, and K. J. Cho, “CaseCrawler: A Lightweight and Low-Profile Crawling Phone Case Robot”, in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (I.F. 4.6), 2020, 5.4: 5858-5865.
Effect of Leg Stiffness on the Running Performance of Milli-Scale Six-Leg Crawling Robot with Payload
Others
Loco-sheet: Morphing inchworm robot across rough-terrain
Chang, M. H., Chae, S. H., Yoo, H. J., Kim, S. H., Kim, W., & Cho, K. J, "Loco-sheet: Morphing inchworm robot across rough-terrain", IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), 2019.
