PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ilkwon Oh

Also known as Il-Kwon Oh, 오일권

Ilkwon Oh is a mechanical engineer at KAIST who builds soft actuators and artificial muscles for soft robots and wearable devices, and his AI competencies at KAIST's AI College include reinforcement learning and control. After degrees in aerospace and mechanical engineering, he worked at LG Electronics from 2001, taught at Chonnam National University from 2004, and joined KAIST in 2010 as an associate professor, becoming a full professor in 2015. In January 2024, his team announced a soft fluidic switch built on an ionic polymer artificial muscle, and in 2024 he joined KAIST's Robotics Program. The Innovation Award for Basic Science came in 2020, and a Life Achievement Award followed in 2024. Today he is an adjunct professor in KAIST's AI College, directs the Soft Robotics & Intelligent Materials Lab, and since 2025 is President of the Korean Society for Mechanical Engineers' Division of Dynamics, Control and Robotics.

Now at
KAIST and Korean Society for Mechanical Engineers
Badges

Timeline

  1. 1995–2001

    Aerospace and mechanical engineering degrees

    He earns a B.S. in aerospace engineering at Inha University in 1995, an M.S. in aerospace engineering at KAIST in 1997, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at KAIST in 2001.

  2. 2001–2010

    From LG Electronics to Chonnam

    He works as a senior researcher at the LG Digital Appliance Research Laboratory of LG Electronics from 2001. He becomes an assistant professor at Chonnam National University's School of Mechanical Systems Engineering in 2004 and an associate professor in 2008, and he is a visiting scholar in Stanford University's Department of Aerospace Engineering from 2006 to 2007.

  3. 2010–2015

    Associate professor at KAIST

    He joins KAIST as an associate professor in the Graduate School of Ocean Systems Engineering in 2010. In 2012, he receives a TOP50 Outstanding Academic Achievement Award in Basic Research from the Minister of Education, Science and Technology for bio-mimetic artificial muscle actuators based on smart carbon nano-material.

  4. 2015–2020

    Full professor at KAIST

    He becomes a full professor in KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2015, and he directs the Soft Robotics & Intelligent Materials Lab. He joins the editorial board of Scientific Reports in 2016 and receives the Innovation Award for Basic Science, a Minister Award of MSIT, in 2020.

  5. January 2024

    A soft fluidic switch

    In January 2024, KAIST announces that his research team has developed a soft fluidic switch that operates at ultra-low voltage. Its ionic polymer artificial muscle is 180 µm thick and produces a force more than 34 times its 10 mg weight.

  6. 2024

    Joining KAIST's Robotics Program

    He joins the Robotics Program at KAIST in 2024, with research interests in soft robotics, soft actuators and sensors, wearable soft haptics, teleoperation of robots, and wearable power suits.

  7. 2024

    A Life Achievement Award

    He receives the Life Achievement Award at the 7th International Conference on Active Materials and Soft Mechatronics (AMSM 2024) in Incheon in 2024.

  8. As of October 2026

    AI College adjunct professor

    He is an adjunct professor in KAIST's AI College, where his research areas are soft robotics, wearable robotics and metamaterials, and his AI competencies include physics-informed AI, scientific machine learning, generative AI and inverse design, and reinforcement learning and control. Since 2025, he is also President of the Division of Dynamics, Control and Robotics of the Korean Society for Mechanical Engineers.

Career

  1. Since 2025Korean Society for Mechanical EngineersPresident
  2. Since 2010KAISTAssociate Professor, Full Professor
  3. 2006–2007Stanford UniversityVisiting Scholar
  4. 2004–2010Chonnam National UniversityAssistant Professor, Associate Professor
  5. 2001–2004LG ElectronicsSenior Researcher

Education

  1. 2001KAISTPh.D. in mechanical engineering
  2. 1997KAISTM.S. in aerospace engineering
  3. 1995Inha UniversityB.S. in aerospace engineering

From the biography.

  1. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Stanford University. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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

  1. Professor – SRIM Lab, KAIST srim.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Soft sensors and actuators: About the Guest Editor – Scientific Reports nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. KAIST develops an artificial muscle device that produces force 34 times its weight – EurekAlert eurekalert.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Researchers Make Breakthrough in Artificial Muscle Technology – Unite.AI unite.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Newly enrolled Professor [Prof. Il-Kwon Oh, Department of Mechanical Engineering] – KAIST Robotics Program robots.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Faculty – KAIST AI College aicollege.kaist.ac.kr. Checked 21 October 2026.