Professor
PROFILE
Full-time Professor
Artificial Intelligence
Joo, Sungmoon (주성문)
Current Position
Principal Researcher, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
Associate Professor, University of Science and Technology
Research Interest
robot manipulation, task and motion planning, human-robot interaction, imitation learning, teleoperation, guidance, navigation and control of mobile robotic platforms, sensor fusion and state estimation, hybrid agentic AI system, and physics-guided/informed neural network
Education
2010 Ph.D. Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
2003 M.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
1998 M.S. Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Seoul National University
1996 B.S. Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Seoul National University
Work Experience
Mar. 2026 ~ Present, Associate Professor, University of Science and Technology
Mar. 2015 ~ Present, Principal Researcher, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
Jan. 2013 ~ Feb. 2015, Research Scientist II, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jul. 2009 ~ Jan. 2013, Principal Research Engineer, Samsung Heavy Industries, Co. Ltd.
Jul. 1998 ~ Jun. 2001, Teaching Instructor, Korea Naval Academy
Project
(Current Research Projects)
~ Dec. 2027, Development of Imitation Learning-based Robot Motion Policies for Precision Assembly
~ Dec. 2027, Development of Emergency Response Robots for Operating Nuclear Power Plants
~ Dec. 2028, Development of Robotic Manipulators for Space Operations
~ Dec. 2029, Development of Physics-aware AI and XR-based Teleoperation Technologies for Extreme Environments
(Previous Research Projects)
Apr. 2023 - Mar. 2025, Space Challenge: Mars exploration system
Apr. 2022 - Dec. 2023, LiDAR-only semantic SLAM for nuclear application
Apr. 2019 - Mar. 2022, Object classification & pose estimation using scan data
Apr. 2022 - Dec. 2024, Robotic digital twin for nuclear decommissioning
Mar. 2017 - Dec. 2021, Robotic cutting system for nuclear decommissioning
Mar. 2015 - Feb. 2017, Jordan Research Reactor, Kijang Research Reactor
Publication
Error detection in underwater laser cutting for nuclear facility dismantlement using hydrophone and AI techniques
Ikjune Kim, Jonhwan Lee, Dongjun Hyun, Sungmoon Joo, S. and Jaehyun Ha, Annals of Nuclear Energy, Vol. 222, 111590, 2025
Toward Robotic Nuclear Decommissioning: Deep Learning-based Object Classification and Pose Estimation from Partial-View Scans
Sungmoon Joo, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Vol. 199. pp.1325-1336, Aug. 2025
Remote Dismantling System using a Digital Manufacturing System and Workpiece Localization for Nuclear Facility Decommissioning
Dongjun Hyun, Ikjune Kim, Sungmoon Joo, Jaehyun Ha, and Jongwhan Lee, Annals of Nuclear Energy, Vol. 195, 110182, 2024
Unsupervised Domain Adaptation for Classification of Imbalanced Time Series Data
Sungmoon Joo, Hogeon Seo, and Yonggyun Yu, Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing, Vol. 43 (6), pp. 458-467, 2023
3D Point Cloud Acquisition and Correction in Radioactive and Underwater Environments using Industrial 3D scanners
Dongjun Hyun, Ikjune Kim, Sungmoon Joo, and Jongwhan Lee, Sensors, Vol. 22 (23), 9053, 2022
Characteristic Analysis of Data Preprocessing for 3D Point Cloud Classification based on a Deep Neural Network: PointNet
Hogeon Seo, Sungmoon Joo, Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing, Vol. 41 (1), pp. 19-24, 2021
Professional Activities
2023 - 2024 IAEA Decommissioning Technical Meetings Committee (NET4D Project)
2022 - Present NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI), Jetson AI Ambassador
2021 - Present Member of Korea Robotics Society
2021 - 2023 Executive Committee, Robotics and Remote Systems Division, American Nuclear Society
2017 - Present Member of American Nuclear Society
2017 - Present Member of Korean Radioactive Waste Society
2015 - Present Member of Korean Nuclear Society
2013 - 2014 Program Committee/Associate Editor, IEEE/RAS Humanoids 2014 Conference
2009 - Present Member of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
2002 - Present Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Teaching Experiences
Aug. 2014 ~ Dec. 2014, Lecturer in School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jul. 1998 ~ Jun. 2001, Teaching Instructor in Department of Mechanical Engineering & Naval Architecture, Korea Naval Academy
Honors and Awards