Dong Ho Kang
Robotics PhD Student at the University of Texas at Austin
dongho.robot@gmail.com
I am a Ph.D. student at UT Austin, advised by Dr. Luis Sentis in the Human Centered Robotics Lab. My research focuses on contact morphology design for robotic manipulation: designing the geometry, compliance, transmission, and sensing structures that shape how robot bodies make, bear, adapt to, and reveal contact. I study these ideas through robot hands, fingertip mechanics, and whole-body manipulation systems, with the goal of building hardware whose behavior is both effective and mechanically interpretable.
selected publications
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PLATO Hand: Shaping Contact Behavior With Fingernails for Precise ManipulationIEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2026My contribution: Led the project from core concept to manuscript, with contributions in hardware implementation, experimental design, result interpretation, and writing. -
ARISTO Hand: Sensing-Driven Distal Hyperextension for Fine-Grained ManipulationIn 2026 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), 2026AcceptedMy contribution: Embedded system, low-level control, and system integration. -
Soft Vortex Gripper for Dexterous Manipulation using Hand-Like RobotsIn 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2026AcceptedMy contribution: Manipulator and hand controller integration for experiments.
news
| May 12, 2026 | Our paper ARISTO Hand: Sensing-Driven Distal Hyperextension for Fine-Grained Manipulation has been accepted to IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM) 2026! |
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| May 04, 2026 | Our paper PLATO Hand: Shaping Contact Behavior with Fingernails for Precise Manipulation has been accepted to IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)! |
| Feb 12, 2026 | Our paper Soft Vortex Gripper for Dexterous Manipulation using Hand-Like Robots has been accepted to the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)! |