Justin Yim

For More Information

• Personal 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

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

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.
• D. Shishika, J. K. Yim, D. A. Paley, “Robust Lyapunov Control Design for Bioinspired Pursuit With Autonomous Hovercraft,” IEEE Trans. Contr. Syst. Tech., vol. 25, iss. 2, pp. 509-520, 2017.
• 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.

Articles in Conference Proceedings

• K. Murphy, J. C. V. Soares, D. Nottage, A. Soylemezoglu, J Ramos, "Cooperative Modular Manipulation with Numerous Cable-Driven Robots for Assistive Construction and Gap Crossing", IEEE Int. Conf. Intell. Robots. Syst. (IROS), 2025. (acceptance rate: )
• 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%)
• Y. Yang, J. Norby, J. K. Yim, and A. M. Johnson, "Proprioception and tail control enable extreme terrain traversal by quadruped robots," 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%)
• D. Shishika, J. K. Yim, D. A. Paley, “Bio-inspired pursuit with autonomous hovercraft using Lyapunov-based control,” American Control Conf. (ACC), 2015. (acceptance rate: 63%)