John (Chung Hee) Kim

North Reading, MA, USA c.h.johnkim@gmail.com chjohnkim.github.io
Professional Experience
Amazon Robotics
Applied Scientist II · North Reading, MA Jul 2026 – Present
  • Developing robot foundation models for production systems
Applied Scientist II Intern · Westborough, MA May 2025 – Aug 2025
  • Developed a tactile sensing-driven framework for 3D object reconstruction with robotic hands
Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Aug 2020 – Jul 2021
Engineer · Hong Kong
  • Conducted research on customized synthetic face generation using generative adversarial networks
  • Developed a web application enabling users to submit tasks for execution on a GPU server
XYZ Robotics Inc. Jun 2019 – Aug 2019
Robotics Engineer Intern · Shanghai, China
  • Developed a Mini-ASRS (Automated Storage & Retrieval System) software package for calibration, trajectory planning, and robotic execution
Education
Carnegie Mellon University Aug 2021 – Jun 2026
Ph.D. in Robotics (Advisor: Dr. George Kantor)
Thesis: Autonomous Crop Manipulation: From Model-Based Reasoning to Learned Interaction
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Feb 2018 – Feb 2020
M.Phil. in Electronic and Computer Engineering (Advisor: Dr. Jungwon Seo)
Thesis: Methods and Designs for Dexterous Robotic Insertion and Placement
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Sep 2012 – Dec 2017
B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering (First Class Honors)
Overseas Student Exchange Program: Georgia Institute of Technology
Research Experience
Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Aug 2021 – Jun 2026
Research Assistant · Pittsburgh, PA
  • Research focus: Intelligent robotic manipulation and perception
  • Engineered and deployed an autonomous robotic system for pepper harvesting, applying imitation learning to train manipulation policies
  • Developed an award-winning vision system for reconstructing the 3D branching structure of tree canopies
HKUST Robotics Institute Feb 2018 – Jun 2020
Research Assistant · Hong Kong
  • Research focus: Dexterous robotic manipulation
  • Developed an award-winning dexterous manipulation technique on an industrial robot arm with applications in assembly automation
Publications & Patents

For an up-to-date list of publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile or the Research section of my homepage.

Honors & Awards
ICRA 2023 Best Paper Award in Robot Vision May 2023
ICRA 2023 Best Student Paper Award Finalist May 2023
ICRA 2019 Best Paper Award in Robot Manipulation May 2019
HKUST Academic Achievement Medal (top 1% of graduates) Jun 2017
Presentations
ICRA 2024 Oral and Poster Presentation, Yokohama, Japan May 2024
ICRA 2023 Oral and Poster Presentation, London May 2023
ICRA 2022 Oral and Poster Presentation, Philadelphia, PA May 2022
MLCAS 2022 Poster Presentation, Ames, IA Oct 2022
ICRA 2019 Oral and Poster Presentation, Montreal, Canada May 2019
Teaching
Robot Localization and Mapping, Teaching Assistant Sep 2023 – Dec 2023
Carnegie Mellon University
Computer Vision, Teaching Assistant Jan 2023 – May 2023
Carnegie Mellon University
Introduction to Electro-Robot Design, Teaching Assistant Sep 2018 – May 2019
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Graduate Coursework
CMU 16-825 Learning for 3D Vision Spring 2023
CMU 16-711 Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control Spring 2023
CMU 16-740 AI for Manipulation Fall 2022
CMU 10-715 Advanced Introduction to Machine Learning Fall 2022
CMU 11-785 Introduction to Deep Learning Spring 2022
CMU 16-833 Robot Localization and Mapping Spring 2022
CMU 16-720 Computer Vision Fall 2021
CMU 16-811 Math Fundamentals for Robotics Fall 2021
HKUST ELEC5660 Introduction to Aerial Robotics Spring 2019
HKUST ELEC5640 Robotic Manipulation Fall 2018
HKUST COMP5212 Machine Learning Fall 2018
HKUST ELEC6910 Robot Perception and Learning Spring 2018
HKUST EESM5730 Modern Control Systems Design Spring 2018
Skills

Languages   English (native), Korean (native), Mandarin Chinese (conversational)

Tools   Python, MATLAB, PyTorch, ROS, git, SolidWorks, OnShape, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, LaTeX