Welcome to the Healthcare Robotics Lab (HeRo Lab) webpage. The lab is in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea.

The HeRo Lab focuses on developing actuators, sensors, systems, and mechanisms to advance healthcare technologies in surgery, treatment, and rehabilitation. Our mission is to find robotic and mechanical solutions that will be heroes in the medical field.

Research Areas

  • Surgical Robots

    Innovative surgical tools and manipulators for improving the accuracy and safety of robotic surgeries

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  • Implantable Devices

    Implantable medical devices for remodeling, assisting, and monitoring organs and other internal structures

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  • Haptic Feedback

    Haptic feedback devices for teleoperated robotic procedures and medical training simulators

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  • Artificial Muscle

    Flexible, compact, lightweight, and efficient actuators for wearable assistive and rehabilitative devices

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Lab News

  • 04/03/2024 - Prof. Han presents at the Bioengineering Seminar Series at Seoul National University.

  • 03/21/2024 - Prof. Han presents at the 4th International Conference on Embodied Intelligence.

  • 03/01/2024 - Two graduate students, Jun Heon Lee and Sein Song, join HeRo Lab. And Prof. Han’s Intro to Design of Medical Robotics & Devices and Mechatronics courses begin.

  • 01/25/2024 - Yongjin Kim receives the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for his work as a teaching assistant for the Mechatronics course. Congratulations!

  • 01/19/2024 - Prof. Han presents at the Korea-UK Haptics/Medical Robotics Workshop.

  • 12/14/2023 - Prof. Han presents at Queen Mary University of London.

  • 12/08/2023 - Do Hyun Lee and Soomi Lee, our undergraduate interns, receive the Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Presentation Award. Great work!

  • 11/28/2023 - Prof. Han presents at Sungkyunkwan University.

  • 11/24/2023 - The Hero lab team (Sang Hyun Lee, Seong Joo Byun, Jegyeong Ryu, and Yongjin Kim) wins first place in the Student Innovation Challenge at the Korea Haptics Conference. Great work!

  • 11/10/2023 - Prof. Han receives the 2023 KIMTEC Innovation Award Grand Prize at the Korean Innovative Medical Technology Society (KIMTEC) conference.

  • 11/03/2023 - Prof. Han presents at the SNU-UTokyo Joint Workshop.

  • 10/04/2023 - Prof. Han is recognized in “50 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About.”

  • 09/01/2023 - Two graduate students, Sang Hyun Lee and Seong Joo Byun, join Hero lab. & Prof. Han’s Mechatronics course begins.

  • 07/14/2023 - Prof. Han presents at the Translational Soft Robotics workshop at RSS 2023.

  • 06/09/2023 - Gi Hyun Park, our undergraduate intern, receives the Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Presentation Award. Great work!

  • 05/22/2023 - Prof. Han receives the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) Best Paper Award. The winners were selected among ~1200 papers published in 2022.

  • 05/12/2023 - Prof. Han presents at the Korean Association of Robotic Surgeons (KAROS) conference.

  • 04/28/2023 - Prof. Han presents at the KSME Bioengineering conference.

  • 04/19/2023 - Prof. Han presents at the Innovative Medical Technology Research Institute at Seoul National University Hospital.

  • 04/05/2023 - Our new paper “An Electrostatically Actuated Gecko Adhesive Clutch” has been published online in Advanced Materials Technologies.

  • 04/01/2023 - Prof. Han was interviewed by Robot Newspaper as part of their Young Robot Engineer series. Check out the interview.

  • 03/31/2023 - Prof. Han presents at Korea Tech.

  • 03/17/2023 - Prof. Han’s affiliation with the Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering at Seoul National University begins.

  • 03/01/2023 - Three graduate students, Jegyeong Ryu, Minjae Lee, and Junghyeon Lee, join HeRo lab. & Prof. Han’s Medical Robotics & Devices and Mechatronics courses begin.

  • 02/24/2023 - Our new paper “Circulatory Support: Artificial Muscles for the Future of Cardiovascular Assist Devices“ has been published online in Advanced Materials.

  • 02/23/2023 - Prof. Han presents at the 1st Korea Haptics PI Symposium.

  • 02/16/2023 - Prof. Han presents at KRoC 2023 at the young researcher session.

  • 02/09/2023 - Our new paper “Decoupling Transmission and Transduction for Improved Durability of Highly Stretchable, Soft Strain Sensing: Applications in Human Health Monitoring” has been published online in MDPI Sensors.

  • 02/09/2023 - Jiyeop Kim receives the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for his work as a teaching assistant for the Mechatronics course. Congratulations!

  • 02/02/2023 - Jun Heon Lee, our undergraduate intern, receives the Excellence Award from the SNU Undergraduate Research Program 2022. Great work!

  • 01/26/2023 - Veritasium featured Stanford BDML’s work on gecko-inspired adhesives which includes Prof. Han’s work.

  • 01/04/2023 - Prof. Han presents at KAIST.

Past Lab News