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Scientist of October, Professor Haeshin Lee
(Professor Haeshin Lee from the Department of Chemistry)
Professor Haeshin Lee from the Department of Chemistry received the ‘Science and Technology Award of October’ from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea for his contribution to developing an antibleeding injection needle. This novel outcome will fundamentally prevent the problem of secondary infections of AIDS, Ebola and Hepatitis viruses transmitting from patients to medical teams.
This needle’s surface is coated with hemostatic materials. Its concept is simple and the key to this technology is to make materials that are firmly coated on the needle so that they can endure frictional force when being injected into skin and blood vessels. Moreover, the materials should be adhesive to skin and the interior of blood vessels, but harmless to humans.
Professor Lee found a solution from natural polymer ingredients. Catecholamine can be found in mussels. Professor Lee conjugated catechol groups on the chitosan backbone. He applied this mussel-inspired adhesive polymer Chitosan-catechol, which immediately forms an adhesive layer with blood, as a bioadhesion for the antibleeding injection needle.
Professor Lee said, “Chitosan-catechol, which copies the adhesive mechanism of mussels, shows high solubility in physiological saline as well as great mucoadhesion. Hence, it is perfectly suitable for coating the injection needle. Combining it with proteins allows for efficient drug delivery to the heart, which is a challenging injection location, so it will be also useful for treating incurable heart disease.”
2018.10.05 View 10392 -
Flexible Piezoelectric Acoustic Sensors for Speaker Recognition
A KAIST research team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Material Science and Engineering has developed a machine learning-based acoustic sensor for speaker recognition.
Acoustic sensors were spotlighted as one of the most intuitive bilateral communication devices between humans and machines. However, conventional acoustic sensors use a condenser-type device for measuring capacitance between two conducting layers, resulting in low sensitivity, short recognition distance, and low speaker recognition rates.
The team fabricated a flexible piezoelectric membrane by mimicking the basilar membrane in the human cochlear. Resonant frequencies vibrate corresponding regions of the trapezoidal piezoelectric membrane, which converts voice to electrical signal with a highly sensitive self-powered acoustic sensor.
This multi-channel piezoelectric acoustic sensor exhibits sensitivity more than two times higher and allows for more abundant voice information compared to conventional acoustic sensors, which can detect minute sounds from farther distances. In addition, the acoustic sensor can achieve a 97.5% speaker recognition rate using a machine learning algorithm, reducing by 75% error rate than the reference microphone.
AI speaker recognition is the next big thing for future individual customized services. However, conventional technology attempts to improve recognition rates by using software upgrades, resulting in limited speaker recognition rates. The team enhanced the speaker recognition system by replacing the existing hardware with an innovative flexible piezoelectric acoustic sensor. Further software improvement of the piezoelectric acoustic sensor will significantly increase the speaker and voice recognition rate in diverse environments.
Professor Lee said, “Highly sensitive self-powered acoustic sensors for speaker recognition can be used for personalized voice services such as smart home appliances, AI secretaries, always-on IoT, biometric authentication, and FinTech.”
These research “Basilar Membrane-Inspired Self-Powered Acoustic Sensor” and “Machine Learning-based Acoustic Sensor for Speaker Recognition” were published in the September 2018 issue of Nano Energy.
Firgure 1: A flexible piezoelectric acoustic sensor mimicking the human cochlear.
Figure 2: Speaker recognition with a machine learning algorithm.
2018.10.04 View 7567 -
Spray Coated Tactile Sensor on a 3-D Surface for Robotic Skin
Robots will be able to conduct a wide variety of tasks as well as humans if they can be given tactile sensing capabilities.
A KAIST research team has reported a stretchable pressure insensitive strain sensor by using an all solution-based process. The solution-based process is easily scalable to accommodate for large areas and can be coated as a thin-film on 3-dimensional irregularly shaped objects via spray coating. These conditions make their processing technique unique and highly suitable for robotic electronic skin or wearable electronic applications.
The making of electronic skin to mimic the tactile sensing properties of human skin is an active area of research for various applications such as wearable electronics, robotics, and prosthetics. One of the major challenges in electronic skin research is differentiating various external stimuli, particularly between strain and pressure. Another issue is uniformly depositing electrical skin on 3-dimensional irregularly shaped objects.
To overcome these issues, the research team led by Professor Steve Park from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor Jung Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering developed electronic skin that can be uniformly coated on 3-dimensional surfaces and distinguish mechanical stimuli. The new electronic skin can also distinguish mechanical stimuli analogous to human skin. The structure of the electronic skin was designed to respond differently under applied pressure and strain. Under applied strain, conducting pathways undergo significant conformational changes, considerably changing the resistance. On the other hand, under applied pressure, negligible conformational change in the conducting pathway occurs; e-skin is therefore non-responsive to pressure. The research team is currently working on strain insensitive pressure sensors to use with the developed strain sensors.
The research team also spatially mapped the local strain without the use of patterned electrode arrays utilizing electrical impedance tomography (EIT). By using EIT, it is possible to minimize the number of electrodes, increase durability, and enable facile fabrication onto 3-dimensional surfaces.
Professor Park said, “Our electronic skin can be mass produced at a low cost and can easily be coated onto complex 3-dimensional surfaces. It is a key technology that can bring us closer to the commercialization of electronic skin for various applications in the near future.”
The result of this work entitled “Pressure Insensitive Strain Sensor with Facile Solution-based Process for Tactile Sensing Applications” was published in the August issue of ACS Nano as a cover article.
(Figure: Detecting mechanical stimuli using electrical impedance tomography.)
2018.09.21 View 8525 -
President Shin Presents Opportunities & Challenges of the 4IR at the Summer Davos Forum
(President Shin makes a keynote speech at the 2018 Summer Davos Forum in China on Sept.20.)
KAIST co-hosted the Asia Session with the World Economic Forum during the 2018 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, China from September 18 through 20. The session highlighted regional collaboration in Asia to promote inclusive growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
KAIST is working closely with the WEF to take the lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Last July, KAIST established the Fourth Industrial Revolution Information Center (FIRIC) at the KAIST Institute and signed an MOU with the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) at the WEF in October. The session is a follow-up event KAIST and the C4IR agreed to last year during the Roundtable Session held in Seoul.
Many experts in new emerging industries as well as many project directors, including Director Murat Sonmez of the C4IR, attended the session KAIST hosted. Director Chizuru Suga at the C4IR in Japan, Director Danil Kerimi in China, and Director Shailesh Sharda in India also attended the session and discussed ways to expand collaboration and networks among the countries.
In his keynote speech at the session on September 20, President Sung-Chul Shin presented how the Korean government is trying to drive the economy by strategically investing in focused industries in the new global industrial environment. President Shin introduced the government’s strategic roadmap to build the competitiveness of emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and precision medicine.
He also stressed that the three components of innovation, collaboration, and speed should be prioritized in all sectors for the successful realization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For instance, innovation in education, research, and technology commercialization, expansive domestic and international collaboration beyond the private and public sectors, speedy deregulation, and efficient governance will all be critical.
He also said that KAIST will launch new pilot collaboration projects along with the WEF soon. “We paved the way for leading the network with major countries including Japan and India for advancing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through this session,” President Shin said.
2018.09.21 View 8394 -
KAIST Develops VRFB with Longer Durability
(from left: PhD candidate Soohyun Kim, Professor Hee-Tak Kim and PhD candidate Junghoon Choi)
There has been growing demand for large-scale storage for energy produced from renewable energy sources in an efficient and stable way. To meet this demand, a KAIST research team developed a new vanadium redox-flow battery (VRFB) with 15 times greater capacity retention and five times longer durability. This VRFB battery can be an excellent candidate for a large-scale rechargeable battery with no risk of explosion.
The VRFB has received much attention for its high efficiency and reliability with the absence of cross-contamination. However, it has the limitation of having insufficient charge and discharge efficiency and a low capacity retention rate because its perfluorinated membrane is very permeable to any active materials. To minimize energy loss, it needs a membrane that has low vanadium ion permeability and high ion conductivity. Hence, there was an attempt to incorporate a hydrocarbon membrane that has low cost and high ion selectivity but it turned out that the VO₂+ caused chemical degradation, which led to shortening the battery life drastically.
To develop a membrane with pore sizes smaller than the hydrated size of vanadium ions yet larger than that of the protons, a research team co-led by Professor Hee-Tae Jung and Professor Hee-Tak Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering implemented a graphene-oxide framework (GOF) membrane by cross-linking graphene oxide nanosheets. They believed that GOF, having strong ion selectivity, would be a good candidate for the membrane component for the VRFB. The interlayer spacing between the GO sheets limited moisture expansion and provided selective ion permeation.
The GOF membrane increased the capacity retention of the VRFB, which showed a 15 times higher rate than that of perfluorinated membranes. Its cycling stability was also enhanced up to five times, compared to conventional hydrocarbon membranes.
These pore-sized-tuned graphene oxide frameworks will allow pore-sized tuning of membranes and will be applicable to electrochemical systems that utilize ions of various sizes, such as rechargeable batteries and sensors.
Professor Kim said, “Developing a membrane that prevents the mixing of positive and negative active materials has been a chronic issue in the field of redox-flow batteries. Through this research, we showed that nanotechnology can prevent this crossover issue and membrane degradation. I believe that this technology can be applied to various rechargeable batteries requiring large-scale storage.”
This research was published in Nano Letters on May 3.
Figure 1. Electrochemical performances of the VRFBs with Nafion 115, SPAES (sulfonated poly), and GOF/SPAES: discharge capacity
Figure 2. Schematic of the selective ion transfer of hydrated vanadium ions and protons in the GOF membrane and the molecular structure of the GOF membrane, showing that the GO nanosheets are cross-linked with EDA (ethylenediamine)
2018.09.20 View 7461 -
Using Donut-shaped Lithium Sulfide for Higher Performing Batteries
(from left: Research Professor Fangmin Ye and Professor Hee-Tak Kim)
A KAIST research team developed a lithium-sulfur battery with a doughnut-shaped active material structure showing a record lifecycle of over 600 cycles. Having higher energy density and lower production cost than a lithium-ion battery (LIB), it can be used in electric vehicles that require a longer battery life.
There has been an intense research conducted for developing lithium-sulfur batteries with high energy density because LIBs only allow for a very short travel distance per charge. However, Li-S batteries are still unable to provide a longer lifecycle due to the poor reversibility of the lithium metal cathode.
To tackle this issue, Professor Hee-Tak Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and his team used lithium sulfide (Li₂S) cathodes and combine them with graphite anodes to enhance energy density and lifecycles for the batteries.
Yet, lithium sulfide is costly and, so far, there has not been an electrode architecture and electrolyte design that enables a longer lifecycle between the graphite anodes and lithium sulfide cathodes.
Hence, the team produced a doughnut-shaped lithium sulfide cathode active material from low-cost lithium sulfide developed from raw materials. They have also developed a lithium sulfide ion battery with a graphite anode and lithium sulfide cathode using a high concentration salt electrolyte.
This doughnut-shaped lithium sulfide showed outstanding charge and discharge reversibility through improving the transfer of lithium ions. Its highly concentrated salt electrolyte formed a stable film on the surface of the graphite electrode, which showed strong durability.
Through this technology, the team achieved 30% higher energy density than that of conventional LIBs and secured a lifecycle of more than 600 cycles. This doughnut-shaped lithium sulfide-based electrode can be manufactured using low-cost raw materials and a single heat treatment process. The electrode can also be applied to existing LIBs.
Professor Kim said, “We have demonstrated that applying low-cost sulfur compounds to LIBs can improve both energy density and the lifecycle simultaneously.”
This research, led by Research Professor Fangmin Ye, was published in Advanced Science on May 7.
Figure 1. Structural characterization of Li₂SO₄/CNT and Li₂S/CNT electrodes and suggested mechanism for the formation of the holey-Li₂S nanoarchitecture
2018.09.19 View 5755 -
Effective Drug Delivery to Heart with Tannic Acid
(Professor Haeshin Lee from the Department of Chemistry) Typical methods of drug delivery to the heart require surgical procedures involving incisions in the chest wall and bones. To efficiently treat cardiovascular and related vascular diseases without surgery, a KAIST research team developed a heart-targeting drug delivery technology using tannin acid via intravenous systemic injection. This method can be applied to the development of a variety of new protein-based drugs.
Cardiovascular-circulatory disease is currently the second leading cause of death in Korea. A typical example of this disease is myocardial infarction caused by poor oxygen and nutrient supply due to narrowed coronary arteries and poor blood flow to the heart.
Although there have been numerous research projects to develop chemotherapeutic drugs and therapeutic proteins, clinics still rely on surgical procedures. Drug delivery can be an alternative, but it is quite challenging because ceaseless dynamic cycles of the heart and massive exchanges of blood mean administered therapeutics do not stay inside the heart very long.
Professor Haeshin Lee from the Department of Chemistry and his team employed tannic acid (TA), which is known for giving bitter taste to wines. It is one of the most abundant polyphenols and can be easily found in plants, such as fruits, vegetables, cacao, and others. TA has also been used as a multifunctional coating molecule.
Using these properties of TA, the team complexed protein and peptide therapeutics with tannic acid and succeeded in targeting protein and peptide therapeutics to the heart. TA, coated on the surface of a granulated protein complex, helps maintain cardiac function because it adheres to extracellular matrices, elastin, and collagens in heart tissues allowing the protein to stay attached to the heart tissue for a longer period.
The team confirmed that these Tannic-acid-modified proteins stay in blood vessels five days longer than with protein-only injections. Additionally they found that TA-protein complexes do not show any cardiac toxicity and do not cause noticeable pathology.
The team has been continuously developing biomaterials for medical applications by testing various polyphenolic materials that feature adhesive and coating properties, including tannic acid. They have injected a mixture of TA and fibroblast growth factors (FGF) into animal models with myocardial infarctions. After four weeks, they confirmed that the infarction was reduced and the left ventricular pressure and cardiac output were almost normalized.
Professor Lee said, “Although there have been numerous drugs related to heart disease, so far there has not been efficient drug delivery to the heart so this technology will be able to reformulate existing drugs into new and more efficient drugs.”
This research, jointly led by Dr. Ki-Suk Kim from the Predictive Model Research Center, was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on April 30 ( http://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-018-0227-9 ).
Figure 1. Schematic for the heart-targeting mechanism of TANNylated protein nanocomplexes: (1) size-dependent permeation, (2) phenolic (that is, TA), and (3) internalization by internalization by myoblasts
Figure 2. Effect of TA based protein complexes on cardiac cell transport efficiency and viral gene expression efficiency and therapeutic function in animal models with myocardial infarction
2018.09.18 View 5491 -
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee Announced as the Eni Award Recipient
(Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee)
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will be awarded the 2018 Eni Advanced Environmental Solutions Prize in recognition of his innovations in the fields of energy and environment. The award ceremony will take place at the Quirinal Palace, the official residence of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who will also be attending on October 22.
Eni, an Italian multinational energy corporation established the Eni Award in 2008 to promote technological and research innovation of efficient and sustainable energy resources. The Advanced Environmental Solutions Prize is one of the three categories of the Eni Award. The other two categories are Energy Transition and Energy Frontiers. The Award for Advanced Environmental Solutions recognizes a researcher or group of scientists that has achieved internationally significant R&D results in the field of environmental protection and recovery. The Eni Award is referred to as the Nobel Award in the fields of energy and environment.
Professor Lee, a pioneering leader in systems metabolic engineering was honored with the award for his developing engineered bacteria to produce chemical products, fuels, and non-food biomass materials sustainably and with a low environmental impact. He has leveraged the technology to develop microbial bioprocesses for the sustainable and environmentally friendly production of chemicals, fuels, and materials from non-food renewable biomass.
The award committee said that they considered the following elements in assessing Professor Lee’s achievement: the scientific relevance and the research innovation level; the impact on the energy system in terms of sustainability as well as fairer and broader access to energy; and the adequacy between technological and economic aspects.
Professor Lee, who already won two other distinguished prizes such as the George Washington Carver Award and the PV Danckwerts Memorial Lecture Award this year, said, “I am so glad that the international academic community as well as global industry leaders came to recognize our work that our students and research team has made for decades.”
Dr. Lee’s lab has been producing a lot of chemicals in environmentally friendly ways. Among them, many were biologically produced for the first time and some of these processes have been already commercialized. “We will continue to strive for research outcomes with two objectives: First, to develop bio-based processes suitable for sustainable chemical industry. The other is to contribute to the human healthcare system through development of platform technologies integrating medicine and nutrition,” he added.
2018.09.12 View 7803 -
Electron Heating in Weakly Ionized Collisional Plasmas
(from left: Professor Wonho Choe and Research Professor Sanghoo Park)
A KAIST research team successfully identified the underlying principles behind electron heating, which is one of the most important phenomena in plasmas. As the electric heating determines wide range of physical and chemical properties of plasmas, this outcome will allow relevant industries to extend and effectively customize a range of plasma characteristics for their specific needs.
Plasma, frequently called the fourth state of matter, can be mostly formed by artificially energizing gases in standard temperature (25°C) and pressure (1 atm) range. Among the many types of plasma, atmospheric-pressure plasmas have been gaining a great deal of attention due to their unique features and applicability in various scientific and industrial fields.
Because plasma characteristics strongly depends on gas pressure in the sub-atmospheric to atmospheric pressure range, characterizing the plasma at different pressures is a prerequisite for understanding the fundamental principles of plasmas and for their industrial applications.
In that sense, information on the spatio-temporal evolution in the electron density and temperature is very important because various physical and chemical reactions within a plasma arise from electrons. Hence, electron heating has been an interesting topic in the field of plasma.
Because collisions between free electrons and neutral gases are frequent under atmospheric-pressure conditions, there are physical limits to measuring the electron density and temperature in plasmas using conventional diagnostic tools, thus the principles behind free electron heating could not be experimentally revealed.
Moreover, lacking information on a key parameter of electron heating and its controlling methods is troublesome and limit improving the reactivity and applicability of such plasmas.
To address these issues, Professor Wonho Choe and his team from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering employed neutral bremsstrahlung-based electron diagnostics in order to accurately examine the electron density and temperature in target plasmas. In addition, a novel imaging diagnostics for two dimensional distribution of electron information was developed.
Using the diagnostic technique they developed, the team measured the nanosecond-resolved electron temperature in weakly ionized collisional plasmas, and they succeeded in revealing the spatiotemporal distribution and the fundamental principle involved in the electron heating process.
The team successfully revealed the fundamental principle of the electron heating process under atmospheric to sub-atmospheric pressure (0.25-1atm) conditions through conducting the experiment on the spatiotemporal evolution of electron temperature.
Their findings of the underlying research data on free electrons in weakly ionized collisional plasmas will contribute to enhancing the field of plasma science and their commercial applications.
Professor Choe said, “The results of this study provide a clear picture of electron heating in weakly ionized plasmas under conditions where collisions between free electrons and neutral particles are frequent. We hope this study will be informative and helpful in utilizing and commercializing atmospheric-pressure plasma sources in the near future.”
Articles related to this research, led by Research Professor Sanghoo Park, were published in Scientific Reports on May 14 and July 5.
Figure 1. Nanosecond-resolved visualization of the electron heating structure. Spatiotemporal evolution of 514.5-nm continuum radiation,Te, Ar I emission
Figure 2. Nanosecond-resolved visualization of electron heating. Spatiotemporal evolution of neutral bremsstrahlung at 514.5 nm
2018.09.10 View 6981 -
There Won't Be a Singularity: Professor Jerry Kaplan
(Professor Jerry Kaplan gave a lecture titled, Artificial Intelligence: Think Again at KAIST)
“People are so concerned about super intelligence, but the singularity will not happen,” said Professor Jerry Kaplan at Stanford University, an AI guru and Silicon Valley entrepreneur during a lecture at KAIST. He visited KAIST to give a lecture on Artificial Intelligence: Think Again on September 6.
Professor Kaplan said that some people argue that Korea’s AI research is behind the US and China but he doesn’t agree with that. “Korea is the most digitally connected one and has the world’s best engineers in the field. Korean companies are building products the consumers really like at reasonable prices. Those are attracting global consumers,” he added.
Instead of investing loads of money on AI research, he suggested three tasks for Korea taking a better position in the field of AI: Collecting and saving lots of data; training engineers, not the research talents in AI; and investing in AI infrastructure and relieving regulations by the government.
Referring to AI hype, Professor Kaplan argued that machines are intelligent, but they do not think in the way humans can, and assured the audience that the singularity some futurists predict will not be coming. He said, “Machine learning is a tool extracting useful information, but it does not mean they are so smart that they are taking over the world.”
(Professor Jerry Kaplan gave a lecture titled, Artificial Intelligence: Think Again at KAIST)
But what has made us believing AI myths? He first began pointing out how AI has been mythicized by three major drivers. Those are the entertainment industry, the popular media, and the AI community all wanting to attract more public attention and prestige. The abovementioned drivers are falsely making robots more human and are adding human characteristics.
Instead of being captivated by those AI myths and thinking about how to save the world from robots, he strongly argued, “We need to develop standards for the unintended side effects from AI.” To provide machines socially and ethically mingling with the human world, he believed principles should be set as follows: Define the Safe Operating Envelope (SOE), “safe modes” when out of bounds, study human behavior programmatically, certification and licensing standards, limitations on machine “agency,” and basic computational ethics such as when it is okay to break the law.
Professor Kaplan gave a positive view of AI for humans. “The future will be bright, thanks to AI. They do difficult work and help us and that will drive wealth and quality of life. The rich might get richer, but the benefits will spread throughout the people. It is time to think of innovative ways for using AI for building better world,” he concluded.
2018.09.10 View 5521 -
NEREC Summer Program Keeps Fellows Thinking, Engaged in Nuclear Nonproliferation
Nuclear technology is more than just technology. It is the fruit of the most advanced science and technology. It also requires high standards of policymaking and global cooperation for benefiting the technology.
As part of the fifth annual Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC) Summer Fellows Program at KAIST, 24 students from 15 countries participated in six-week intensive education and training program. NEREC is the only university-based center dedicated to nuclear nonproliferation education and research established in 2014.
The program, which provides multidisciplinary lectures and seminars on nuclear technology and policy as well as international relations, was designed to nurture global nuclear technology experts well equipped in three areas: in-depth knowledge of technology, applicability gained from sound policy building, and negotiating for international cooperation. It now has grown into the most popular summer program at KAIST.
During the program from July 6 to August 18, participants were able to engage in enriching and stimulating learning experiences in tandem with policies and technology for the utilization and provision of peaceful and safe nuclear technology.
Participating fellows also had to conduct a group research project on a given topic. This year, they explored nuclear nonproliferation issues in relation to nuclear exports and brainstormed some recommendations for current policy. They presented their outcomes at the 2018 NEREC Conference on Nuclear Nonproliferation. After intensive lecture sessions and group research work, the fellows went off to key policy think-tanks, nuclear research institutes, and research power facilities in Korea, Japan, and China.
“NEREC emphasizes nuclear nonproliferation issues related to civilian nuclear power and the associated nuclear fuel cycle development from the point of technology users. I am very glad that the number of participants are increasing year by year,” said the Director of NEREC Man-Sung Yim, a professor in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering.
Participants’ majors vary from nuclear engineering to international relations to economics. The fellows divided into two groups of graduate and undergraduate courses. They expressed their deep satisfactory in the multidisciplinary lectures by scholars from KAIST, Seoul National University, and Korea National Defense University.
Many participants reported that they learned a lot, not only about policy and international relations but on the research they are conducting and what the key issues will be in dealing for producing meaningful research work.
Moad Aldbissi from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology is one of the students who shared the same view. He said, “Coming from a technical background in nuclear engineering, I managed to learn a lot about nuclear policy and international relations. The importance of integrating the technical and political fields became even clearer.”
Most students concurred that they recognized how important it was to make international collaboration in this powerful field for each country through this program.
“As an engineering student, I just approached this program like an empty glass in policy areas. While working with colleagues during the program, I came to understand how important it is to make cooperation in these fields for the better result of national development and international relations,” said Thanataon Pornphatdetaudom from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
To Director Yim, this program is becoming well positioned to educate nuclear policy experts in a number of countries of strategic importance. He believes the continuous supply of these experts will contribute to promoting global nuclear nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy while the use of nuclear technology continues.
2018.09.04 View 10847 -
Adding Smart to Science Museum
KAIST and the National Science Museum (NSM) created an Exhibition Research Center for Smart Science to launch exhibitions that integrate emerging technologies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoTs), and artificial intelligence (AI).
There has been a great demand for a novel technology for better, user-oriented exhibition services. The NSM continuously faces the problem of not having enough professional guides. Additionally, there have been constant complaints about its current mobile application for exhibitions not being very effective.
To tackle these problems, the new center was founded, involving 11 institutes and universities. Sponsored by the National Research Foundation, it will oversee 15 projects in three areas: exhibition-based technology, exhibition operational technology, and exhibition content.
The group first aims to provide a location-based exhibition guide system service, which allows it to incorporate various technological services, such as AR/VR to visitors. An indoor locating system named KAILOS, which was developed by KAIST, will be applied to this service. They will also launch a mobile application service that provides audio-based exhibition guides.
To further cater to visitors’ needs, the group plans to apply a user-centered ecosystem, a living lab concept to create pleasant environment for visitors.
“Every year, hundred thousands of young people visit the National Science Museum. I believe that the exhibition guide system has to be innovative, using cutting-edge IT technology in order to help them cherish their dreams and inspirations through science,” Jeong Heoi Bae, President of Exhibition and Research Bureau of NSM, emphasized.
Professor Dong Soo Han from the School of Computing, who took the position of research head of the group, said, “We will systematically develop exhibition technology and contents for the science museum to create a platform for smart science museums. It will be the first time to provide an exhibition guide system that integrates AR/VR with an indoor location system.”
The center will first apply the new system to the NSM and then expand it to 167 science museums and other regional museums.
2018.09.04 View 9164