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 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.

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.

1. 

   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

2. 

3. 

   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

4. 

   PneuGelSight: Soft Robotic Vision-Based Proprioception and Tactile Sensing

   In International Journal on Robotics Research (IJRR) , 2025

5. 

   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]

6. 

   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

7. 

   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

8. 

   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]

9. 

   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

10. 

    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

11. 

    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]

12. 

    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

13. 

    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

14. 

    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

15. 

    In-Hand Pose Estimation with Optical Tactile Sensor for Robotic Electronics Assembly

    Uksang Yoo ,  and  Wenzhen Yuan

    2022

16. 

    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

17. 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