Justin Yim

For More Information

• Personal website
• Research group website

Education

• PhD Electrical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley 2020
• MSE Robotics, University of Pennsylvania 2015
• BSE Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics/Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania 2015

Academic Positions

• Faculty Affiliate, Coordinated Sciences Laboratory, 2023-present
• Assistant Professor, UIUC Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, 2023-present
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Carnegie Mellon University Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2020-2022

Research Statement

Justin Yim develops robot locomotion, exploring novel robot morphology and mechanical design, as well as new control techniques for agile behaviors. His research investigates locomotion strategies such as jumping and hopping, underactuated walking, balance control, bioinspired motion, and multimodal combinations of locomotion strategies. New high-performance locomotion capabilities could enable robots to accompany humans in complex environments such as cluttered urban settings for package delivery or rugged natural areas for wildfire fighting, as well as reach areas too difficult for humans like inspection in difficult-to-reach infrastructure or scientific exploration on other planets.

Research Interests

• Robot mechanism design
• Bioinspired robotics
• Robot locomotion and dynamics
• Legged robot design and control

Selected Articles in Journals

• D. W. Haldane, M. M. Plecnik, J. K. Yim, R. S. Fearing, "Robotic Vertical Jumping Agility via Series-elastic Power-modulation," Science Robotics, vol. 1, iss. 1, 2016.
• M. M. Plecnik, D. W. Haldane, J. K. Yim, R. S. Fearing, "Design Exploration and Kinematic Tuning of a Power Modulating Jumping Monopod," J. of Mechanisms and Robotics, vol. 9, iss. 1, 2016.
• Y. Wu, J. K. Yim, J. Liang, Z. Shao, M. Qi, J. Zhong, Z. Luo, X. Yan, M. Zhang, X. Wang, R. S. Fearing, R. J. Full, L. Lin, "Insect-scale fast moving and ultrarobust soft robot," Science Robotics, vol. 4, iss. 32, 2019.
• J. K. Yim, B. R. P. Singh, E. K. Wang, R. Featherstone, R. S. Fearing, "Precision Robotic Leaping and Landing Using Stance-phase Balance," Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 3422-3429, 2020.
• J. Liang, Y. Wu, J. K. Yim, H. Chen, M. Zicong, H. Liu, Y. Liu, Y. Liu, D. Wang, W. Qui, Z. Shao, M. Zhang, X. Wang, J. Zhong, and L. Lin, "Electrostatic footpads enable agile insect-scale soft robots with trajectory control," Science Robotics, vol. 6, iss. 55, 2021.
• S. Divi, J. K. Yim, M. Bedillion, S. Bergbreiter, "A Programmable Substrate to Study Robots Jumping from Non-rigid Surfaces", Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 9, iss. 11, 2024.
• S. D. Lee, S. Wang, D. Kuang, E. Wang, J. Yim, N. Hunt, H. S. Stuart, R. S. Fearing, "Free-ranging squirrels perform stable, above-branch landings by balancing using leg force and nonprehensile foot torque", Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 288, iss. 7, 2024.
• J. K. Yim, E. K Wang, S. D. lee, N. H. Hunt, R. J. Full, R. S. Fearing, "Monopedal robot branch-to-branch leaping and landing inspired by squirrel balance control", Science Robotics, vol. 10, iss. 100, 2025.

Articles in Conference Proceedings

• L. Zhang, T. Mathur, A. Wissa, J. Yim, M. Alleyne, "Click and run: Investigation of click beetles' ultrafast clicking behavior as a mechanism for escape from constraints", ASME Conf. Smart Materials Adaptive Structures & Int. Sys. (SMASIS) 2025.
• K. Murphy, J. K. Yim, J. Ramos, "Preliminary Exploration of Antagonistic Vibrotactile Feedback to Improve Force Regulation in Teleoperated Bimanual Manipulation", IEEE Int. Conf. on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2025.
• C. Y. Xu, J. Yan, J. K. Yim, "Pinto: A latched spring actuated robot for jumping and perching", IEEE Int. Conf. Robotics & Automation (ICRA) 2025. (acceptance rate 39%)
• K. Murphy, J. C. V. Soares, J. K. Yim, D. Nottage, A. Soylemezoglu, J Ramos, "Cooperative Modular Manipulation with Numerous Cable-Driven Robots for Assistive Construction and Gap Crossing", IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Robots. Syst. (IROS), 2024. (acceptance rate: 47%)
• J. Kyle, J. K. Yim, K. Hart, S. Bergbreiter, and A. M. Johnson, "The Simplest Walking Robot: A Bipedal robot with one actuator and two rigid bodies," IEEE Int. Conf. Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2023.
• J. K. Yim, J. Ren, D. Ologan, S. Garcia Gonzalez, and A. M. Johnson, "Proprioception and reaction for walking among entanglements," IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Robot. Syst. (IROS), 2023. (acceptance rate: 43%)
• S. Islam*, K. Carter*, J. K. Yim*, J. Kyle, S. Bergbreiter, and A. M. Johnson, “Scalable Minimally Actuated Leg Extension Bipedal Walker Based on 3D Passive Dynamics,” IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Automation (ICRA), 2022 (acceptance rate: 45%) Outstanding locomotion paper finalist
• J. K. Yim, E. K. Wang, R. S. Fearing, “Drift-free Roll and Pitch Estimation for High-acceleration Hopping,” IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Automation (ICRA), 2019. (acceptance rate: 46%) Received best student paper award
• J. K. Yim, R. S. Fearing, "Precision Jumping Limits from Flight-phase Control in Salto-1P," IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Robot. Syst. (IROS), 2018. (acceptance rate: 46%)
• D. W. Haldane*, J. K. Yim*, R. S. Fearing, “Repetitive Extreme-acceleration (14g) Spatial Jumping with Salto-1P,” IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Robot. Syst. (IROS), 2017. (acceptance rate: 45%) Received best paper award
• D. W. Haldane, M. M. Plecnik, J. K. Yim, R. S. Fearing, "A Power Modulating Leg Mechanism for Monopedal Hopping," IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intell. Robot. Syst. (IROS), pp. 4757-4764, 2016. (acceptance rate 48%)

Research Honors

• NSF CAREER Award (04/15/2025)
• NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Fellow (01/10/2025)