Donghoon Baek

Reality = Vivid Dream.

me_satyrr.jpg

Hello! I’m a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology, working with Prof. Sehoon Ha. I received my Ph.D. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under Prof. Joao Ramos, and my M.S. in Robotics from KAIST under Prof. Dong-soo Kwon. My undergraduate degree in Robotics is from Kwangwoon University, advised by Prof. Juhoon Back. I also worked as a research engineer at ROEN Surgical Inc., a medical robot startup.

Goal: Build a robot like Baymax—one that steps into danger zones so humans don’t have to, and lives alongside us in everyday life.

Research Interest: Model-based and learning-based control, humanoid robots, state estimation, and embodied AI.

CV / Email / Google Scholar / Github

selected publications

2026

  1. BAT: Balancing Agility and Stability via Online Policy Switching for Long-Horizon Whole-Body Humanoid Control
    Donghoon Baek, Sang-Hun Kim, and Sehoon Ha
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.01064, 2026
    arXiv
  2. AdaptManip: Learning Adaptive Whole-Body Object Lifting and Delivery with Online Recurrent State Estimation
    Morgan Byrd, Donghoon Baek, Kartik Garg, and 5 more authors
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.14363, 2026
    arXiv
  3. Partial Motion Imitation for Learning Cart Pushing with Legged Manipulators
    Mili Das, Morgan Byrd, Donghoon Baek, and 1 more author
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.26659, 2026
    arXiv

2025

  1. Whole-Body Bilateral Teleoperation with Multi-Stage Object Parameter Estimation for Wheeled Humanoid Locomanipulation
    Donghoon Baek, Amartya Purushottam, Jason J. Choi, and 1 more author
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.09846, 2025
    arXiv
  2. Switch-JustDance: Benchmarking Whole Body Motion Tracking Policies Using a Commercial Console Game
    Jeonghwan Kim, Wontaek Kim, Yidan Lu, and 9 more authors
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.17925, 2025
    arXiv
  3. FSL-LVLM: Friction-Aware Safety Locomotion using Large Vision Language Model in Wheeled Robots
    Bo Peng, Donghoon Baek, Qijie Wang, and 1 more author
    In 2025 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2025
    PDF

2024

  1. Online Learning-Based Inertial Parameter Identification of Unknown Object for Model-Based Control of Wheeled Humanoids
    Donghoon Baek, Bo Peng, Saurabh Gupta, and 1 more author
    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2024
    PDF
  2. Toward Control of Wheeled Humanoid Robots with Unknown Payloads: Equilibrium Point Estimation via Real-to-Sim Adaptation
    Donghoon Baek, Youngwoo Sim, Amartya Purushottam, and 2 more authors
    In 2024 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2024
    PDF

2023

  1. A Study of Shared-Control with Bilateral Feedback for Obstacle Avoidance in Whole-body Telelocomotion of a Wheeled Humanoid
    DongHoon Baek, Yu-Chen Chang, and Joao Ramos
    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023
    PDF
  2. Learning-based discrete hysteresis classifier using wire tension and compensator for flexible endoscopic surgery robots
    Dong-Geol Lee, Donghoon Baek, Hansoul Kim, and 2 more authors
    International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, 2023
    PDF

2022

  1. Hands-free Telelocomotion of a Wheeled Humanoid
    Amartya Purushottam, Yeongtae Jung, Kevin Murphy, and 2 more authors
    In 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022
    PDF
  2. Hybrid LMC: hybrid learning and model-based control for wheeled humanoid robot via ensemble deep reinforcement learning
    Donghoon Baek, Amartya Purushottam, and Joao Ramos
    In 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2022
    PDF

2021

  1. ViO-Com: Feed-forward compensation using vision-based optimization for high-precision surgical manipulation
    DongHoon Baek, Young-Hoon Nho, and Dong-Soo Kwon
    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2021
    PDF

2020

  1. Hysteresis compensator with learning-based hybrid joint angle estimation for flexible surgery robots
    Donghoon Baek, Ju-Hwan Seo, Joonhwan Kim, and 1 more author
    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2020
    PDF

2019

  1. Hysteresis compensator with learning-based pose estimation for a flexible endoscopic surgery robot
    Donghoon Baek, Ju-Hwan Seo, Joonhwan Kim, and 1 more author
    In 2019 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2019
    PDF
  2. Effects of flexible surgery robot on endoscopic procedure: Preliminary bench-top user test
    Joonhwan Kim, Minho Hwang, Dongho Lee, and 5 more authors
    In 2019 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019
    PDF
  3. Shape-locking mechanism of flexible joint using mechanical latch with electromagnetic force
    Deok Gyoon Chung, Joonhwan Kim, DongHoon Baek, and 2 more authors
    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2019
    PDF