Kyunkyu Richard Kim

Metaverse provides us with a massive opportunity to overlap much of our general lives with that of the digital world. Wearable electronics which serve as a link between the virtual world and the user, is at the very center of this paradigm shift. Thus, seamless integration of wearable electronic devices with our body has become increasingly important for widespread adoption.

Kyunkyu Richard Kim, who is 30 years old, is a pioneering innovator in advanced wearable electronics at Stanford University. In particular, he developed a series of soft human skin-like electronic devices which are enhanced by AI algorithms that incorporate both hardware and algorithmic efficiency. These devices comprise soft skin sensors that conformably adhere with the user’s skin, replacing conventional devices that are both bulky and complex. When combined with AI algorithms, these devices enable a single sensory component to generate highly informative signals that would otherwise require numerous sensory units. Furthermore, using only a single skin sensory component, fast-learnable AI algorithms enable adaptation to various daily tasks with limited information such as gesture, gait, and object recognition.

Given the broad applicability of the devices he developed as daily-use electronics, he is particularly interested in exploring applications of his technologies in telemedicine, robotics, and metaverse devices. Expanding his study, he plans to completely integrate intelligence into hardware in the form of neuromorphic devices. By demonstrating the synergic potentials of electronic skins and artificial intelligence, his results will spearhead the future of wearable electronics.