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A KAIST Research Team Develops a Smart Color-Changing Flexible Battery with Ultra-high Efficiency
With the rapid growth of the smart and wearable electronic devices market, smart next-generation energy storage systems that have energy storage functions as well as additional color-changing properties are receiving a great deal of attention. However, existing electrochromic devices have low electrical conductivity, leading to low efficiency in electron and ion mobility, and low storage capacities. Such batteries have therefore been limited to use in flexible and wearable devices.
On August 21, a joint research team led by Professor Il-Doo Kim from the KAIST Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) and Professor Tae Gwang Yun from the Myongji University Department of Materials Science and Engineering announced the development of a smart electrochromic Zn-ion battery that can visually represent its charging and discharging processes using an electrochromic polymer anode incorporated with a “π-bridge spacer”, which increases electron and ion mobility efficiency.
Batteries topped with electrochromic properties are groundbreaking inventions that can visually represent their charged and discharged states using colors, and can be used as display devices that cut down energy consumption for indoor cooling by controlling solar absorbance. The research team successfully built a flexible and electrochromic smart Zn-ion battery that can maintain its excellent electrochromic and electrochemical properties, even under long-term exposure to the atmosphere and mechanical deformations.
< Figure 1. Electrochromic zinc ion battery whose anode is made of a polymer that turns dark blue when charged and transparent when discharged. >
To maximize the efficiency of electron and ion mobility, the team modelled and synthesized the first π-bridge spacer-incorporated polymer anode in the world. π-bonds can improve the mobility of electrons within a structure to speed up ion movement and maximize ion adsorption efficiency, which improves its energy storage capacity.
In anode-based batteries with a π-bridge spacer, the spacer provides room for quicker ion movement. This allows fast charging, an improved zinc-ion discharging capacity of 110 mAh/g, which is 40% greater than previously reported, and a 30% increase in electrochromic function that switches from dark blue to transparent when the device is charged/discharged. In addition, should the transparent flexible battery technology be applied to smart windows, they would display darker colors during the day while they absorb solar energy, and function as a futuristic energy storage technique that can block out UV radiation and replace curtains.
< Figure 2. A schematic diagram of the structure of the electrochromic polymer with π-π spacer and the operation of a smart flexible battery using this cathode material. >
< Figure 3. (A) Density Functional Theory (DFT) theory-based atomic and electronic structure analysis. (B) Comparison of rate characteristics for polymers with and without π-bridge spacers. (C) Electrochemical performance comparison graph with previously reported zinc ion batteries. The anode material, which has an electron donor-acceptor structure with a built-in π-bridge spacer, shows better electrochemical performance and electrochromic properties than existing zinc ion batteries and electrochromic devices. >
Professor Il-Doo Kim said, “We have developed a polymer incorporated with a π-bridge spacer and successfully built a smart Zn-ion battery with excellent electrochromic efficiency and high energy storage capacity.” He added, “This technique goes beyond the existing concept of batteries that are used simply as energy storage devices, and we expect this technology to be used as a futuristic energy storage system that accelerates innovation in smart batteries and wearable technologies.”
This research, co-first authored by the alums of KAIST Departments of Material Sciences of Engineering, Professor Tae Gwang Yun of Myongji University, Dr. Jiyoung Lee, a post-doctoral associate at Northwestern University, and Professor Han Seul Kim at Chungbuk National University, was published as an inside cover article for Advanced Materials on August 3 under the title, “A π-Bridge Spacer Embedded Electron Donor-Acceptor Polymer for Flexible Electrochromic Zn-Ion Batteries”.
< Figure 4. Advanced Materials Inside Cover (August Issue) >
This research was supported by the Nanomaterial Technology Development Project under the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, the Nano and Material Technology Development Project under the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Successive Academic Generation Development Project under the Korean Ministry of Education, and the Alchemist Project under the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy.
2023.09.01 View 4884 -
Professor Joseph J. Lim of KAIST receives the Best System Paper Award from RSS 2023, First in Korea
- Professor Joseph J. Lim from the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI at KAIST and his team receive an award for the most outstanding paper in the implementation of robot systems.
- Professor Lim works on AI-based perception, reasoning, and sequential decision-making to develop systems capable of intelligent decision-making, including robot learning
< Photo 1. RSS2023 Best System Paper Award Presentation >
The team of Professor Joseph J. Lim from the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI at KAIST has been honored with the 'Best System Paper Award' at "Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 2023".
The RSS conference is globally recognized as a leading event for showcasing the latest discoveries and advancements in the field of robotics. It is a venue where the greatest minds in robotics engineering and robot learning come together to share their research breakthroughs. The RSS Best System Paper Award is a prestigious honor granted to a paper that excels in presenting real-world robot system implementation and experimental results.
< Photo 2. Professor Joseph J. Lim of Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI at KAIST >
The team led by Professor Lim, including two Master's students and an alumnus (soon to be appointed at Yonsei University), received the prestigious RSS Best System Paper Award, making it the first-ever achievement for a Korean and for a domestic institution.
< Photo 3. Certificate of the Best System Paper Award presented at RSS 2023 >
This award is especially meaningful considering the broader challenges in the field. Although recent progress in artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms has resulted in numerous breakthroughs in robotics, most of these achievements have been confined to relatively simple and short tasks, like walking or pick-and-place. Moreover, tasks are typically performed in simulated environments rather than dealing with more complex, long-horizon real-world tasks such as factory operations or household chores. These limitations primarily stem from the considerable challenge of acquiring data required to develop and validate learning-based AI techniques, particularly in real-world complex tasks.
In light of these challenges, this paper introduced a benchmark that employs 3D printing to simplify the reproduction of furniture assembly tasks in real-world environments. Furthermore, it proposed a standard benchmark for the development and comparison of algorithms for complex and long-horizon tasks, supported by teleoperation data. Ultimately, the paper suggests a new research direction of addressing complex and long-horizon tasks and encourages diverse advancements in research by facilitating reproducible experiments in real-world environments.
Professor Lim underscored the growing potential for integrating robots into daily life, driven by an aging population and an increase in single-person households. As robots become part of everyday life, testing their performance in real-world scenarios becomes increasingly crucial. He hoped this research would serve as a cornerstone for future studies in this field.
The Master's students, Minho Heo and Doohyun Lee, from the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI at KAIST, also shared their aspirations to become global researchers in the domain of robot learning. Meanwhile, the alumnus of Professor Lim's research lab, Dr. Youngwoon Lee, is set to be appointed to the Graduate School of AI at Yonsei University and will continue pursuing research in robot learning.
Paper title: Furniture Bench: Reproducible Real-World Benchmark for Long-Horizon Complex Manipulation. Robotics: Science and Systems.
< Image. Conceptual Summary of the 3D Printing Technology >
2023.07.31 View 5317 -
KAIST researchers find sleep delays more prevalent in countries of particular culture than others
Sleep has a huge impact on health, well-being and productivity, but how long and how well people sleep these days has not been accurately reported. Previous research on how much and how well we sleep has mostly relied on self-reports or was confined within the data from the unnatural environments of the sleep laboratories.
So, the questions remained: Is the amount and quality of sleep purely a personal choice? Could they be independent from social factors such as culture and geography?
< From left to right, Sungkyu Park of Kangwon National University, South Korea; Assem Zhunis of KAIST and IBS, South Korea; Marios Constantinides of Nokia Bell Labs, UK; Luca Maria Aiello of the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Daniele Quercia of Nokia Bell Labs and King's College London, UK; and Meeyoung Cha of IBS and KAIST, South Korea >
A new study led by researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Nokia Bell Labs in the United Kingdom investigated the cultural and individual factors that influence sleep. In contrast to previous studies that relied on surveys or controlled experiments at labs, the team used commercially available smartwatches for extensive data collection, analyzing 52 million logs collected over a four-year period from 30,082 individuals in 11 countries. These people wore Nokia smartwatches, which allowed the team to investigate country-specific sleep patterns based on the digital logs from the devices.
< Figure comparing survey and smartwatch logs on average sleep-time, wake-time, and sleep durations. Digital logs consistently recorded delayed hours of wake- and sleep-time, resulting in shorter sleep durations. >
Digital logs collected from the smartwatches revealed discrepancies in wake-up times and sleep-times, sometimes by tens of minutes to an hour, from the data previously collected from self-report assessments. The average sleep-time overall was calculated to be around midnight, and the average wake-up time was 7:42 AM. The team discovered, however, that individuals' sleep is heavily linked to their geographical location and cultural factors. While wake-up times were similar, sleep-time varied by country. Individuals in higher GDP countries had more records of delayed bedtime. Those in collectivist culture, compared to individualist culture, also showed more records of delayed bedtime. Among the studied countries, Japan had the shortest total sleep duration, averaging a duration of under 7 hours, while Finland had the longest, averaging 8 hours.
Researchers calculated essential sleep metrics used in clinical studies, such as sleep efficiency, sleep duration, and overslept hours on weekends, to analyze the extensive sleep patterns. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), they further condensed these metrics into two major sleep dimensions representing sleep quality and quantity. A cross-country comparison revealed that societal factors account for 55% of the variation in sleep quality and 63% of the variation in sleep quantity.
Countries with a higher individualism index (IDV), which placed greater emphasis on individual achievements and relationships, had significantly longer sleep durations, which could be attributed to such societies having a norm of going to bed early. Spain and Japan, on the other hand, had the bedtime scheduled at the latest hours despite having the highest collectivism scores (low IDV). The study also discovered a moderate relationship between a higher uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), which measures implementation of general laws and regulation in daily lives of regular citizens, and better sleep quality.
Researchers also investigated how physical activity can affect sleep quantity and quality to see if individuals can counterbalance cultural influences through personal interventions. They discovered that increasing daily activity can improve sleep quality in terms of shortened time needed in falling asleep and waking up. Individuals who exercise more, however, did not sleep longer. The effect of exercise differed by country, with more pronounced effects observed in some countries, such as the United States and Finland. Interestingly, in Japan, no obvious effect of exercise could be observed. These findings suggest that the relationship between daily activity and sleep may differ by country and that different exercise regimens may be more effective in different cultures.
This research published on the Scientific Reports by the international journal, Nature, sheds light on the influence of social factors on sleep. (Paper Title "Social dimensions impact individual sleep quantity and quality" Article number: 9681)
One of the co-authors, Daniele Quercia, commented: “Excessive work schedules, long working hours, and late bedtime in high-income countries and social engagement due to high collectivism may cause bedtimes to be delayed.”
Commenting on the research, the first author Shaun Sungkyu Park said, "While it is intriguing to see that a society can play a role in determining the quantity and quality of an individual's sleep with large-scale data, the significance of this study is that it quantitatively shows that even within the same culture (country), individual efforts such as daily exercise can have a positive impact on sleep quantity and quality."
"Sleep not only has a great impact on one’s well-being but it is also known to be associated with health issues such as obesity and dementia," said the lead author, Meeyoung Cha. "In order to ensure adequate sleep and improve sleep quality in an aging society, not only individual efforts but also a social support must be provided to work together," she said. The research team will contribute to the development of the high-tech sleep industry by making a code that easily calculates the sleep indicators developed in this study available free of charge, as well as providing the benchmark data for various types of sleep research to follow.
2023.07.07 View 4875 -
KAIST Civil Engineering Students named Runner-up at the 2023 ULI Hines Student Competition - Asia Pacific
A team of five students from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) were awarded second place in a premier urban design student competition hosted by the Urban Land Institute and Hines, 2023 ULI Hines Student Competition - Asia Pacific.
The competition, which was held for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region, is an internationally recognized event which typically attract hundreds of applicants.
Jonah Remigio, Sojung Noh, Estefania Rodriguez, Jihyun Kang, and Ayantu Teshome, who joined forces under the name of “Team Hashtag Development”, were supported by faculty advisors Dr. Albert Han and Dr. Youngchul Kim of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to imagine a more sustainable and enriched way of living in the Jurong district of Singapore.
Their submission, titled “Proposal: The Nest”, analyzed the big data within Singapore, using the data to determine which real estate business strategies would best enhance the quality of living and economy of the region.
Their final design, "The Nest" utilized mixed-use zoning to integrate the site’s scenic waterfront with homes, medical innovation, and sustainable technology, altogether creating a place to innovate, inhabit, and immerse.
< The Nest by Team Hashtag Development (Jonah Remigio, Ayantu Teshome Mossisa, Estefania Ayelen Rodriguez del Puerto, Sojung Noh, Jihyun Kang) ©2023 Urban Land Institute >
Ultimately, the team was recognized for their hard work and determination, imprinting South Korea’s indelible footprint in the arena of international scholastic achievement as they were named to be one of the Finalists on April 13th.
< Members of Team Hashtag Development >
Team Hashtag Development gave a virtual presentation to a jury of six ULI members on April 20th along with the "Team The REAL" from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam and "Team Omusubi" from the Waseda University of Japan, the team that submitted the proposal "Jurong Urban Health Campus" which was announced to be the winner on the 31st of May, after the virtual briefing by the top three finalists.
2023.06.26 View 4773 -
A KAIST research team unveils new path for dense photonic integration
Integrated optical semiconductor (hereinafter referred to as optical semiconductor) technology is a next-generation semiconductor technology for which many researches and investments are being made worldwide because it can make complex optical systems such as LiDAR and quantum sensors and computers into a single small chip. In the existing semiconductor technology, the key was how small it was to make it in units of 5 nanometers or 2 nanometers, but increasing the degree of integration in optical semiconductor devices can be said to be a key technology that determines performance, price, and energy efficiency.
KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on the 19th that a research team led by Professor Sangsik Kim of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering discovered a new optical coupling mechanism that can increase the degree of integration of optical semiconductor devices by more than 100 times.
The degree of the number of elements that can be configured per chip is called the degree of integration. However, it is very difficult to increase the degree of integration of optical semiconductor devices, because crosstalk occurs between photons between adjacent devices due to the wave nature of light.
In previous studies, it was possible to reduce crosstalk of light only in specific polarizations, but in this study, the research team developed a method to increase the degree of integration even under polarization conditions, which were previously considered impossible, by discovering a new light coupling mechanism.
This study, led by Professor Sangsik Kim as a corresponding author and conducted with students he taught at Texas Tech University, was published in the international journal 'Light: Science & Applications' [IF=20.257] on June 2nd. done. (Paper title: Anisotropic leaky-like perturbation with subwavelength gratings enables zero crosstalk).
Professor Sangsik Kim said, "The interesting thing about this study is that it paradoxically eliminated the confusion through leaky waves (light tends to spread sideways), which was previously thought to increase the crosstalk." He went on to add, “If the optical coupling method using the leaky wave revealed in this study is applied, it will be possible to develop various optical semiconductor devices that are smaller and that has less noise.”
Professor Sangsik Kim is a researcher recognized for his expertise and research in optical semiconductor integration. Through his previous research, he developed an all-dielectric metamaterial that can control the degree of light spreading laterally by patterning a semiconductor structure at a size smaller than the wavelength, and proved this through experiments to improve the degree of integration of optical semiconductors. These studies were reported in ‘Nature Communications’ (Vol. 9, Article 1893, 2018) and ‘Optica’ (Vol. 7, pp. 881-887, 2020). In recognition of these achievements, Professor Kim has received the NSF Career Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Young Scientist Award from the Association of Korean-American Scientists and Engineers.
Meanwhile, this research was carried out with the support from the New Research Project of Excellence of the National Research Foundation of Korea and and the National Science Foundation of the US.
< Figure 1. Illustration depicting light propagation without crosstalk in the waveguide array of the developed metamaterial-based optical semiconductor >
2023.06.21 View 4501 -
A KAIST Research Team Identifies a Cancer Reversion Mechanism
Despite decades of intensive cancer research by numerous biomedical scientists, cancer still holds its place as the number one cause of death in Korea. The fundamental reason behind the limitations of current cancer treatment methods is the fact that they all aim to completely destroy cancer cells, which eventually allows the cancer cells to acquire immunity. In other words, recurrences and side-effects caused by the destruction of healthy cells are inevitable. To this end, some have suggested anticancer treatment methods based on cancer reversion, which can revert cancer cells back to normal or near-normal cells under certain conditions. However, the practical development of this idea has not yet been attempted.
On June 8, a KAIST research team led by Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering reported to have successfully identified the fundamental principle of a process that can revert cancer cells back to normal cells without killing the cells.
Professor Cho’s team focused on the fact that unlike normal cells, which react according to external stimuli, cancer cells tend to ignore such stimuli and only undergo uncontrolled cell division. Through computer simulation analysis, the team discovered that the input-output (I/O) relationships that were distorted by genetic mutations could be reverted back to normal I/O relationships under certain conditions. The team then demonstrated through molecular cell experiments that such I/O relationship recovery also occurred in real cancer cells.
The results of this study, written by Dr. Jae Il Joo and Dr. Hwa-Jeong Park, were published in Wiley’s Advanced Science online on June 2 under the title, "Normalizing input-output relationships of cancer networks for reversion therapy."
< Image 1. Input-output (I/O) relationships in gene regulatory networks >
Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho's research team classified genes into four types by simulation-analyzing the effect of gene mutations on the I/O relationship of gene regulatory networks. (Figure A-J) In addition, by analyzing 18 genes of the cancer-related gene regulatory network, it was confirmed that when mutations occur in more than half of the genes constituting each network, reversibility is possible through appropriate control. (Figure K)
Professor Cho’s team uncovered that the reason the distorted I/O relationships of cancer cells could be reverted back to normal ones was the robustness and redundancy of intracellular gene control networks that developed over the course of evolution. In addition, they found that some genes were more promising as targets for cancer reversion than others, and showed through molecular cell experiments that controlling such genes could revert the distorted I/O relationships of cancer cells back to normal ones.
< Image 2. Simulation results of restoration of bladder cancer gene regulation network and I/O relationship of bladder cancer cells. >
The research team classified the effects of gene mutations on the I/O relationship in the bladder cancer gene regulation network by simulation analysis and classified them into 4 types. (Figure A) Through this, it was found that the distorted input-output relationship between bladder cancer cell lines KU-1919 and HCT-1197 could be restored to normal. (Figure B)
< Image 3. Analysis of survival of bladder cancer patients according to reversible gene mutation and I/O recovery experiment of bladder cancer cells. >
As predicted through network simulation analysis, Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho's research team confirmed through molecular cell experiments that the response to TGF-b was normally restored when AKT and MAP3K1 were inhibited in the bladder cancer cell line KU-1919. (Figure A-G) In addition, it was confirmed that there is a difference in the survival rate of bladder cancer patients depending on the presence or absence of a reversible gene mutation. (Figure H)
The results of this research show that the reversion of real cancer cells does not happen by chance, and that it is possible to systematically explore targets that can induce this phenomenon, thereby creating the potential for the development of innovative anticancer drugs that can control such target genes.
< Image 4. Cancer cell reversibility principle >
The research team analyzed the reversibility, redundancy, and robustness of various networks and found that there was a positive correlation between them. From this, it was found that reversibility was additionally inherent in the process of evolution in which the gene regulatory network acquired redundancy and consistency.
Professor Cho said, “By uncovering the fundamental principles of a new cancer reversion treatment strategy that may overcome the unresolved limitations of existing chemotherapy, we have increased the possibility of developing new and innovative drugs that can improve both the prognosis and quality of life of cancer patients.”
< Image 5. Conceptual diagram of research results >
The research team identified the fundamental control principle of cancer cell reversibility through systems biology research. When the I/O relationship of the intracellular gene regulatory network is distorted by mutation, the distorted I/O relationship can be restored to a normal state by identifying and adjusting the reversible gene target based on the redundancy of the molecular circuit inherent in the complex network.
After Professor Cho’s team first suggested the concept of reversion treatment, they published their results for reverting colorectal cancer in January 2020, and in January 2022 they successfully re-programmed malignant breast cancer cells back into hormone-treatable ones. In January 2023, the team successfully removed the metastasis ability from lung cancer cells and reverted them back to a state that allowed improved drug reactivity. However, these results were case studies of specific types of cancer and did not reveal what common principle allowed cancer reversion across all cancer types, making this the first revelation of the general principle of cancer reversion and its evolutionary origins.
This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
2023.06.20 View 4952 -
KAIST research team develops a forgery prevention technique using salmon DNA
The authenticity scandal that plagued the artwork “Beautiful Woman” by Kyung-ja Chun for 30 years shows how concerns about replicas can become a burden to artists, as most of them are not experts in the field of anti-counterfeiting. To solve this problem, artist-friendly physical unclonable functions (PUFs) based on optical techniques instead of electronic ones, which can be applied immediately onto artwork through brushstrokes are needed.
On May 23, a KAIST research team led by Professor Dong Ki Yoon in the Department of Chemistry revealed the development of a proprietary technology for security and certification using random patterns that occur during the self-assembly of soft materials.
With the development of the Internet of Things in recent years, various electronic devices and services can now be connected to the internet and carry out new innovative functions. However, counterfeiting technologies that infringe on individuals’ privacy have also entered the marketplace.
The technique developed by the research team involves random and spontaneous patterns that naturally occur during the self-assembly of two different types of soft materials, which can be used in the same way as human fingerprints for non-replicable security. This is very significant in that even non-experts in the field of security can construct anti-counterfeiting systems through simple actions like drawing a picture.
The team developed two unique methods. The first method uses liquid crystals. When liquid crystals become trapped in patterned substrates, they induce the symmetrical destruction of the structure and create a maze-like topology (Figure 1). The research team defined the pathways open to the right as 0 (blue), and those open to the left as 1 (red), and confirmed that the structure could be converted into a digital code composed of 0’s and 1’s that can serve as a type of fingerprint through object recognition using machine learning. This groundbreaking technique can be utilized by non-experts, as it does not require complex semiconductor patterns that are required by existing technology, and can be observed through the level of resolution of a smartphone camera. In particular, this technique can reconstruct information more easily than conventional methods that use semiconductor chips.
< Figure 1. Security technology using the maze made up of magnetically-assembled structures formed on a substrate patterned with liquid crystal materials. >
The second method uses DNA extracted from salmon. The DNA can be dissolved in water and applied with a brush to induce bulking instability, which forms random patterns similar to a zebra’s stripes. Here, the patterns create ridge endings and bifurcation, which are characteristics in fingerprints, and these can also be digitalized into 0’s and 1’s through machine learning. The research team applied conventional fingerprint recognition technology to this patterning technique and demonstrated its use as an artificial fingerprint. This method can be easily carried out using a brush, and the solution can be mixed into various colors and used as a new security ink.
< Figure 2. Technology to produce security ink using DNA polymers extracted from salmon >
This new security technology developed by the research team uses only simple organic materials and requires basic manufacturing processes, making it possible to enhance security at a low cost. In addition, users can produce patterns in the shapes and sizes they want, and even if the patterns are made in the same way, their randomness makes each individual pattern different. This provides high levels of security and gives the technique enhanced marketability.
Professor Dong Ki Yoon said, “These studies have taken the randomness that naturally occurs during self-assembly to create non-replicable patterns that can act like human fingerprints.” He added, “These ideas will be the cornerstone of technology that applies the many randomities that exist in nature to security systems.”
The two studies were published in the journal Advanced Materials under the titles “1Planar Spin Glass with Topologically-Protected Mazes in the Liquid Crystal Targeting for Reconfigurable Micro Security Media” and “2Paintable Physical Unclonable Function Using DNA” on May 6 and 5, respectively.
Author Information: 1Geonhyeong Park, Yun-Seok Choi, S. Joon Kwon*, and Dong Ki Yoon*/ 2Soon Mo Park†, Geonhyeong Park†, Dong Ki Yoon*: †co-first authors, *corresponding author
This research was funded by the Center for Multiscale Chiral Architectures and supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT-Korea Research Foundation, BRIDGE Convergent Research and Development Program, the Running Together Project, and the Samsung Future Technology Development Program.
< Figure 1-1. A scene from the schematic animation of the process of Blues (0) and Reds (1) forming the PUF by exploring the maze. From "Planar Spin Glass with Topologically-Protected Mazes in the Liquid Crystal Targeting for Reconfigurable Micro Security Media" by Geonhyeong Park, Yun-Seok Choi, S. Joon Kwon, Dong Ki Yoon. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202303077 >
< Figure 2-1. A schematic diagram of the formation of digital fingerprints formed using the DNA ink. From "Paintable Physical Unclonable Function Using DNA" by Soon Mo Park, Geonhyeong Park, Dong Ki Yoon. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202302135 >
2023.06.08 View 4439 -
Researchers finds a way to reduce the overheating of semiconductor devices
The demand to shrink the size of semiconductors coupled with the problem of the heat generated at the hot spots of the devices not being effectively dispersed has negatively affected the reliability and durability of modern devices. Existing thermal management technologies have not been up to the task. Thus, the discovery of a new way of dispersing heat by using surface waves generated on the thin metal films over the substrate is an important breakthrough.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced that Professor Bong Jae Lee's research team in the Department of Mechanical Engineering succeeded in measuring a newly observed transference of heat induced by 'surface plasmon polariton' (SPP) in a thin metal film deposited on a substrate for the first time in the world.
☞ Surface plasmon polariton (SPP) refers to a surface wave formed on the surface of a metal as a result of strong interaction between the electromagnetic field at the interface between the dielectric and the metal and the free electrons on the metal surface and similar collectively vibrating particles.
The research team utilized surface plasmon polaritons (SPP), which are surface waves generated at the metal-dielectric interface, to improve thermal diffusion in nanoscale thin metal films. Since this new heat transfer mode occurs when a thin film of metal is deposited on a substrate, it is highly usable in the device manufacturing process and has the advantage of being able to be manufactured over a large area. The research team showed that the thermal conductivity increased by about 25% due to surface waves generated over a 100-nm-thick titanium (Ti) film with a radius of about 3 cm.
KAIST Professor Bong Jae Lee, who led the research, said, "The significance of this research is that a new heat transfer mode using surface waves over a thin metal film deposited on a substrate with low processing difficulty was identified for the first time in the world. It can be applied as a nanoscale heat spreader to efficiently dissipate heat near the hot spots for easily overheatable semiconductor devices.”
The result has great implications for the development of high-performance semiconductor devices in the future in that it can be applied to rapidly dissipate heat on a nanoscale thin film. In particular, this new heat transfer mode identified by the research team is expected to solve the fundamental problem of thermal management in semiconductor devices as it enables even more effective heat transfer at nanoscale thickness while the thermal conductivity of the thin film usually decreases due to the boundary scattering effect.
This study was published online on April 26 in 'Physical Review Letters' and was selected as an Editors' Suggestion. The research was carried out with support from the Basic Research Laboratory Support Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea.
< Figure. Schematic diagram of the principle of measuring the thermal conductivity of thin Titanium (TI) films and the thermal conductivity of surface plasmon polariton measured on the Ti film >
2023.06.01 View 4642 -
MVITRO Co., Ltd. Signs to Donate KRW 1 Billion as Development Fund toward KAIST-NYU Joint Campus
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 29th that it has solicited a development fund of KRW 1 billion from MVITRO (CEO Young Woo Lee) for joint research at the KAIST-NYU Joint Campus, which is being pursued to be KAIST's first campus on the United States.
KAIST plans to use this development fund for research and development of various solutions in the field of 'Healthcare at Home' among several joint researches being conducted with New York University (hereinafter referred to as NYU).
Young Woo Lee, the CEO of MVITRO, said, "We decided to make the donation with the hope that the KAIST-NYU Joint Campus will become an ecosystem that would help with Korean companies’ advancement into the US."
After announcing its plans to enter New York in 2021, KAIST has formed partnerships with NYU and New York City last year. Currently, NYU and KAIST are devising plans for mid- to long-term joint research in nine fields of studies including AI and bio-medicine and technology, and are promoting cooperation in the field of education, including exchange students, minors, double majors, and joint degrees under the joint campus agreement,
The ceremony for the consigning of MVITRO Co., Ltd.’s donation was held at the main campus of KAIST in the afternoon of the 29th and was attended by KAIST officials such as President Kwang Hyung Lee and Jae-Hung Han, the executive director of KAIST Development Foundation, along with the NYU President-Designate Linda G. Mills, and the CEO of MVITRO, Young Woo Lee.
< Photo. (from left) Kwang Hyung Lee, the President of KAIST, Linda G. Mills, the President-Designate of NYU, and Young Woo Lee, the CEO of MVITRO, pose for the photo with the signed letter of donation on May 29, 2023 at KAIST >
Linda Mills, the nominee designated to be NYU president next term said, “I am proud to join our colleagues in celebrating this important gift from MVITRO, which will help support the partnership between KAIST and NYU. This global partnership leverages the distinctive strengths of both universities to drive advances in research poised to deliver profound impact, such as the intersections of healthcare, technology, and AI."
President Kwang Hyung Lee said, "The KAIST-NYU Joint Campus will be the first step in extending KAIST's excellent science and technology capabilities to the international stage and will serve as a bridgehead to help excellent technological advancements venture into the United States." Then, President Lee added, "I would like to express my gratitude to MVITRO for sympathizing with this vision. I will work with NYU to lead the creation of global values.”
On a different note, MVITRO Co., Ltd., is a home medical device maker that collaborated with Hyundai Futurenet Co., Ltd. to develop an IoT product that combined a painless laser lancet (blood collector) and a blood glucose meter into one for a convenient at-home health support, which received favorable reviews from overseas buyers at CES 2023.
2023.05.30 View 5781 -
'Jumping Genes' Found to Alter Human Colon Genomes, Offering Insights into Aging and Tumorigenesis
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and their collaborators have conducted a groundbreaking study targeting 'jumping genes' in the entire genomes of the human large intestine. Published in Nature on May 18 2023, the research unveils the surprising activity of 'Long interspersed nuclear element-1 (L1),' a type of jumping gene previously thought to be mostly dormant in human genomes. The study shows that L1 genes can become activated and disrupt genomic functions throughout an individual's lifetime, particularly in the colorectal epithelium.
(Paper Title: Widespread somatic L1 retrotransposition in normal colorectal epithelium, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06046-z)
With approximately 500,000 L1 jumping genes, accounting for 17% of the human genome, they have long been recognized for their contribution to the evolution of the human species by introducing 'disruptive innovation' to genome sequences. Until now, it was believed that most L1 elements had lost their ability to jump in normal tissues of modern humans. However, this study reveals that some L1 jumping genes can be widely activated in normal cells, leading to the accumulation of genomic mutations over an individual's lifetime. The rate of L1 jumping and resulting genomic changes vary among different cell types, with a notable concentration observed in aged colon epithelial cells. The study illustrates that every colonic epithelial cell experiences an L1 jumping event by the age of 40 on average.
The research, led by co-first authors Chang Hyun Nam (a graduate student at KAIST) and Dr. Jeonghwan Youk (former graduate student at KAIST and assistant clinical professor at Seoul National University Hospital), involved the analysis of whole-genome sequences from 899 single cells obtained from skin (fibroblasts), blood, and colon epithelial tissues collected from 28 individuals. The study uncovers the activation of L1 jumping genes in normal cells, resulting in the gradual accumulation of genomic mutations over time. Additionally, the team explored epigenomic (DNA methylation) sequences to understand the mechanism behind L1 jumping gene activation. They found that cells with activated L1 jumping genes exhibit epigenetic instability, suggesting the critical role of epigenetic changes in regulating L1 jumping gene activity. Most of these epigenomic instabilities were found to arise during the early stages of embryogenesis. The study provides valuable insights into the aging process and the development of diseases in human colorectal tissues.
"This study illustrates that genomic damage in normal cells is acquired not only through exposure to carcinogens but also through the activity of endogenous components whose impact was previously unclear. Genomes of apparently healthy aged cells, particularly in the colorectal epithelium, become mosaic due to the activity of L1 jumping genes," said Prof. Young Seok Ju at KAIST.
"We emphasize the essential and ongoing collaboration among researchers in clinical medicine and basic medical sciences," said Prof. Min Jung Kim of the Department of Surgery at Seoul National University Hospital. "This case highlights the critical role of systematically collected human tissues from clinical settings in unraveling the complex process of disease development in humans."
"I am delighted that the research team's advancements in single-cell genome technology have come to fruition. We will persistently strive to lead in single-cell genome technology," said Prof. Hyun Woo Kwon of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Korea University School of Medicine.
The research team received support from the Research Leader Program and the Young Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea, a grant from the MD-PhD/Medical Scientist Training Program through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, and the Suh Kyungbae Foundation.
< Figure 1. Experimental design of the study >
< Figure 2. Schematic diagram illustrating factors influencing the soL1R landscape. >
Genetic composition of rc-L1s is inherited from the parents. The methylation landscape of rc-L1 promoters is predominantly determined by global DNA demethylation, followed by remethylation processes in the developmental stages. Then, when an rc-L1 is promoter demethylated in a specific cell lineage, the source expresses L1 transcripts thus making possible the induction of soL1Rs.
2023.05.22 View 4520 -
KAIST debuts “DreamWaQer” - a quadrupedal robot that can walk in the dark
- The team led by Professor Hyun Myung of the School of Electrical Engineering developed “DreamWaQ”, a deep reinforcement learning-based walking robot control technology that can walk in an atypical environment without visual and/or tactile information
- Utilization of “DreamWaQ” technology can enable mass production of various types of “DreamWaQers”
- Expected to be used in exploration of atypical environment involving unique circumstances such as disasters by fire.
A team of Korean engineering researchers has developed a quadrupedal robot technology that can climb up and down the steps and moves without falling over in uneven environments such as tree roots without the help of visual or tactile sensors even in disastrous situations in which visual confirmation is impeded due to darkness or thick smoke from the flames.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 29th of March that Professor Hyun Myung's research team at the Urban Robotics Lab in the School of Electrical Engineering developed a walking robot control technology that enables robust 'blind locomotion' in various atypical environments.
< (From left) Prof. Hyun Myung, Doctoral Candidates I Made Aswin Nahrendra, Byeongho Yu, and Minho Oh. In the foreground is the DreamWaQer, a quadrupedal robot equipped with DreamWaQ technology. >
The KAIST research team developed "DreamWaQ" technology, which was named so as it enables walking robots to move about even in the dark, just as a person can walk without visual help fresh out of bed and going to the bathroom in the dark. With this technology installed atop any legged robots, it will be possible to create various types of "DreamWaQers".
Existing walking robot controllers are based on kinematics and/or dynamics models. This is expressed as a model-based control method. In particular, on atypical environments like the open, uneven fields, it is necessary to obtain the feature information of the terrain more quickly in order to maintain stability as it walks. However, it has been shown to depend heavily on the cognitive ability to survey the surrounding environment.
In contrast, the controller developed by Professor Hyun Myung's research team based on deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods can quickly calculate appropriate control commands for each motor of the walking robot through data of various environments obtained from the simulator. Whereas the existing controllers that learned from simulations required a separate re-orchestration to make it work with an actual robot, this controller developed by the research team is expected to be easily applied to various walking robots because it does not require an additional tuning process.
DreamWaQ, the controller developed by the research team, is largely composed of a context estimation network that estimates the ground and robot information and a policy network that computes control commands. The context-aided estimator network estimates the ground information implicitly and the robot’s status explicitly through inertial information and joint information. This information is fed into the policy network to be used to generate optimal control commands. Both networks are learned together in the simulation.
While the context-aided estimator network is learned through supervised learning, the policy network is learned through an actor-critic architecture, a deep RL methodology. The actor network can only implicitly infer surrounding terrain information. In the simulation, the surrounding terrain information is known, and the critic, or the value network, that has the exact terrain information evaluates the policy of the actor network.
This whole learning process takes only about an hour in a GPU-enabled PC, and the actual robot is equipped with only the network of learned actors. Without looking at the surrounding terrain, it goes through the process of imagining which environment is similar to one of the various environments learned in the simulation using only the inertial sensor (IMU) inside the robot and the measurement of joint angles. If it suddenly encounters an offset, such as a staircase, it will not know until its foot touches the step, but it will quickly draw up terrain information the moment its foot touches the surface. Then the control command suitable for the estimated terrain information is transmitted to each motor, enabling rapidly adapted walking.
The DreamWaQer robot walked not only in the laboratory environment, but also in an outdoor environment around the campus with many curbs and speed bumps, and over a field with many tree roots and gravel, demonstrating its abilities by overcoming a staircase with a difference of a height that is two-thirds of its body. In addition, regardless of the environment, the research team confirmed that it was capable of stable walking ranging from a slow speed of 0.3 m/s to a rather fast speed of 1.0 m/s.
The results of this study were produced by a student in doctorate course, I Made Aswin Nahrendra, as the first author, and his colleague Byeongho Yu as a co-author. It has been accepted to be presented at the upcoming IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) scheduled to be held in London at the end of May. (Paper title: DreamWaQ: Learning Robust Quadrupedal Locomotion With Implicit Terrain Imagination via Deep Reinforcement Learning)
The videos of the walking robot DreamWaQer equipped with the developed DreamWaQ can be found at the address below.
Main Introduction: https://youtu.be/JC1_bnTxPiQ Experiment Sketches: https://youtu.be/mhUUZVbeDA0
Meanwhile, this research was carried out with the support from the Robot Industry Core Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). (Task title: Development of Mobile Intelligence SW for Autonomous Navigation of Legged Robots in Dynamic and Atypical Environments for Real Application)
< Figure 1. Overview of DreamWaQ, a controller developed by this research team. This network consists of an estimator network that learns implicit and explicit estimates together, a policy network that acts as a controller, and a value network that provides guides to the policies during training. When implemented in a real robot, only the estimator and policy network are used. Both networks run in less than 1 ms on the robot's on-board computer. >
< Figure 2. Since the estimator can implicitly estimate the ground information as the foot touches the surface, it is possible to adapt quickly to rapidly changing ground conditions. >
< Figure 3. Results showing that even a small walking robot was able to overcome steps with height differences of about 20cm. >
2023.05.18 View 6551 -
KAIST gearing up to train physician-scientists and BT Professionals joining hands with Boston-based organizations
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 29th that it has signed MOUs with Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system and a world-class research-oriented hospital, and Moderna, a biotechnology company that developed a COVID-19 vaccine at the Langham Hotel in Boston, MA, USA on the morning of April 28th (local time). The signing ceremony was attended by officials from each institution joined by others headed by Minister LEE Young of the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), and Commissioner LEE Insil of the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
< Photo 1. Photo from the Signing of MOU between KAIST-Harvard University Massachusetts General Hospital and KAIST-Moderna >
Mass General is the first and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, and it is one of the most innovative hospitals in the world being the alma mater of more than 13 Nobel Prize winners and the home of the Mass General Research Institute, the world’s largest hospital-based research program that utilizes an annual research budget of more than $1.3 billion.
KAIST signed a general agreement to explore research and academic exchange with Mass General in September of last year and this MOU is a part of its follow-ups.
Mass General works with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as local hospitals, to support students learn the theories of medicine and engineering, and gain rich clinical research experience.
Through this MOU, KAIST will explore cooperation with an innovative ecosystem created through the convergence of medicine and engineering. In particular, KAIST’s goal is to develop a Korean-style training program and implement a differentiated educational program when establishing the science and technology-oriented medical school in the future by further strengthening the science and engineering part of the training including a curriculum on artificial intelligence (AI) and the likes there of.
Also, in order to foster innovative physician-scientists, KAIST plans to pursue cooperation to develop programs for exchange of academic and human resources including programs for student and research exchanges and a program for students of the science and technology-oriented medical school at KAIST to have a chance to take part in practical training at Mass General.
David F.M. Brown, MD, Mass General President, said, “The collaboration with KAIST has a wide range of potentials, including advice on training of physician-scientists, academic and human resource exchanges, and vitalization of joint research by faculty from both institutions. Through this agreement, we will be able to actively contribute to global cooperation and achieve mutual goals.”
Meanwhile, an MOU between KAIST and Moderna was also held on the same day. Its main focus is to foster medical experts in cooperation with KAIST Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering (GSMSE), and plans to cooperate in various ways in the future, including collaborating for development of vaccine and new drugs, virus research, joint mRNA research, and facilitation of technology commercialization.
In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities. The Company has 48 programs in development across 45 development candidates, of which 38 are currently in active clinical trials.
“We are grateful to have laid a foundation for collaboration to foster industry experts with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a leader of science and technology innovation in Korea,” said Arpa Garay, Chief Commercial Officer, Moderna. “Based on our leadership and expertise in developing innovative mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, we hope to contribute to educating and collaborating with professionals in the bio-health field of Korea.“
President Kwang Hyung Lee of KAIST, said, “We deem this occasion to be of grave significance to be able to work closely with Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the world's best research-oriented hospitals, and Moderna, one of the most influential biomedical companies.”
President Lee continued, "On the basis of the collaboration with the two institutions, we will be able to bring up qualified physician-scientists and global leaders of the biomedical business who will solve problems of human health and their progress will in turn, accelerate the national R&D efforts in general and diversify the industry."
2023.04.29 View 10347