PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Huitaek Yun

Also known as Heetaik Yoon, 윤희택

Huitaek Yun is a manufacturing AI researcher whose work brings machine learning into industrial robotics and factory operations. He earned degrees at Yonsei, worked as an engineer at Hyundai Motor Company, completed a Ph.D. at Purdue, and served as a senior controls engineer at Purdue IN-MaC. His research includes CNN-based robot picking, sound-based monitoring for a pipe-bending machine, and deep-learning coating inspection. As of October 2026, he is an assistant professor in KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering and leads the Smart Manufacturing Systems Laboratory, where he works on physical AI and digital twins for manufacturing.

Now at
KAIST
Badges

Timeline

  1. 2007–2009

    Degrees at Yonsei

    He earns a B.S.E. at Yonsei University in 2007 and an M.S. there in 2009.

  2. 2009–2013

    Engineering at Hyundai

    From 2009 to 2013, he works as an engineer at Hyundai Motor Company.

  3. 2017–2021

    Completing a Purdue doctorate

    He studies toward a Ph.D. at Purdue from 2017 to 2021 and earns the degree in 2021.

  4. 2021–2023

    Controls at Purdue IN-MaC

    From 2021 to 2023, he works as a senior controls engineer at Purdue IN-MaC.

  5. 2022

    Learning to pick from bins

    In 2022, he coauthors a robotic bin-picking system that trains a convolutional neural network from human-selected objects, then improves its accuracy through robot trials.

  6. 2024

    Digital twins and factory monitoring

    In 2024, he coauthors a digital-twin study of autonomous robotic chip removal for a CNC machine. He also coauthors a study that uses a lightweight convolutional neural network and internal sound to monitor a legacy pipe-bending machine's operation and productivity.

  7. 2025

    Visual coating inspection

    In 2025, he coauthors a visual coating inspection framework using self-labeling and multi-stage deep-learning strategies.

  8. As of October 2026

    Assistant professor at KAIST

    As of October 2026, he is an assistant professor in KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering and leads the Smart Manufacturing Systems Laboratory. His research covers physical AI and digital twins for manufacturing systems, including machine tools and manipulators.

Career

  1. NowKAISTAssistant Professor
  2. 2021–2023Purdue UniversitySenior Controls Engineer
  3. 2009–2013Hyundai Motor CompanyEngineer

Education

  1. 2021Purdue UniversityPh.D.
  2. 2009Yonsei UniversityB.S.E.; M.S.

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes KAIST. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes KAIST. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes KAIST. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes KAIST. We estimate how 26,439 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs, nonprofits and government research centers, with decade counts, net flows and the top paths.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Huitaek Yun yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Huitaek Yun - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology pure.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Lab Members | LAMM purduelamm.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Development of autonomous robotic bin picking system using convolutional neural network (cnn) initially trained by human skills - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology pure.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Operation and Productivity Monitoring from Sound Signal of Legacy Pipe Bending Machine via Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) kci.go.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Smart Manufacturing Systems Laboratory smslab.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. KAIST AI-PCM aipcm.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.