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

  • 09/01/2026 - Jayhyun Kwon (MS program) and Hongjun Ha (BS-MS/PhD program) join Hero Lab. Welcome!

  • 8/27/2026 - Prof. Han presents at the Center for Robotics and Biosystems at Northwestern.

  • 8/26/2026 - Prof. Han presents at Illinois Tech.

  • 06/08/2026 - Prof. Han presents at EPFL Neuchâtel.

  • 06/04/2026 - Seong Joo Byeon presents a late-breaking results poster at ICRA 2026.

  • 04/07/2026 - The “Artificial Muscles in Soft Assistive Wearable Robotics” workshop, co-organized by Prof. Han, is held at RoboSoft 2026

  • 04/03/2026 - Jungmin Ahn receives the best poster presentation award at the Medical Metaverse Conference. Congratulations!

  • 03/01/2026 - Do Min Cho, Seonghwan Lee, Seokhee Kim, and Hyunjin Hong join Hero Lab. Welcome!

  • 03/01/2026 - Prof. Han is promoted to Associate Professor.

  • 01/12/2026 - Prof. Han presents online as a Keynote Speaker at the IES Student and Young Professionals (SYP) Forum at SII 2026.

  • 01/09/2026 - Prof. Han presents at the Medical Imaging AI Innovation Research Center Symposium hosted by the SNU AI Institute.

  • 11/29/2025 - Sein Song receives the Excellent Oral Presentation Award, and Sumin, Taejoon, and Jungmin receive the Excellent Innovative Medical Technology Award at the Korea Innovative Medical Technology Conference. Congratulations!

‍ ‍Past Lab News

Lab Awards

  • Best Poster Presentation Award, Medical Metaverse Conference — Jungmin Ahn (2026)

  • Excellent Oral Presentation Award, Korea Innovative Medical Technology Conference — Sein Song (2025)

  • Excellent Innovative Medical Technology Award, Korea Innovative Medical Technology Conference — Sumin Kim, Taejoon Um, Jungmin Ahn (2025)

  • Busan Metropolitan City Mayor's Award, COSS Next-Generation Semiconductor MCU Application Contest — Do Min Cho, Injae Jun (2025)

  • Next-Generation Engineering Researcher Excellence Award, Institute for Promotion of Engineering and Science of Korea (IPESK) — Yongjin Kim (2025)

  • Best Poster Award, IROS Workshop — Jegyeong Ryu (2025)

  • Best Paper Finalist, IROS Workshop — Sihan Yang (2025)

  • Best Master’s Thesis Award, Seoul National University — Jiyeop Kim (2025)

  • New Leader Award in Science, World Federation of Power Leaders (WFPL) — Amy K. Han (2025)

  • Best Work-in-Progress Paper Award, IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC) — Jegyeong Ryu, Yeonsu Park, Jiyeop Kim, Sanghyeon, Yongju Jeon (2025)

  • Top Demonstration Contributor Award, IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC) — Hero Lab (2025)

  • Excellent Oral Presentation Award, Medical Metaverse Conference — Seong Joo Byeon (2025)

  • Best Master’s Thesis Award, Seoul National University — Jeonghyeon Lee (2025)

  • Excellent Paper Award, Korea Robotics Conference (KRoC) — Yongjin Kim, Jeonghyeon Lee, Do Min Cho (2025)

  • Rising Star of RoboSoft, IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) — Amy K. Han (2025)

  • Grand Prize, SNU Graduate Entrepreneurship Club Demo Day — Jungmin Ahn, Yongjin Kim (2024)

  • Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Presentation Award, Seoul National University — Taejoon Um, Yong Joo Jeon (2024)

  • Innovation in Haptics Research Grant, IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Haptics — Jegyeong Ryu (2024)

  • Best Poster Presentation Awards, Medical Metaverse Conference — Seong Joo, Jeong Hyeon, Narin, Ho Jung, Jungmin (2024)

  • Best Oral Presentation Award, Medical Metaverse Conference — Amy K. Han (2024)

  • Innovators Under 35 (TR35) Asia Pacific, MIT Technology Review — Amy K. Han (2024)

  • 1st Place, Student Innovation Challenge, Korea Haptics Conference — Sumin Kim, Taejoon Um, Minjae Lee, Jeong Hyeon Lee (2024)

  • Runner-up, Best Student Poster, Hamlyn Symposium Workshop — Jungmin Ahn, Yongjin Kim (2024)

  • New Generation Star, ICRA / Nokov — Amy K. Han (2024)

  • APBEC Young Scholar Award, Asia Pacific Biomedical Engineering Consortium — Amy K. Han (2024)

  • Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, SNU Mechatronics — Yongjin Kim (2024)

  • Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Presentation Award, Seoul National University — Do Hyun Lee, Soomi Lee (2023)

  • 1st Place, Student Innovation Challenge, Korea Haptics Conference — Sang Hyun Lee, Seong Joo Byun, Jegyeong Ryu, Yongjin Kim (2023)

  • KIMTEC Innovation Award Grand Prize, Korean Innovative Medical Technology Society — Amy K. Han (2023)

  • 50 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About, Women in Robotics — Amy K. Han (2023)

  • Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Presentation Award, Seoul National University — Gi Hyun Park (2023)

  • Best RA-L Paper Award, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters — Amy K. Han (2023)

  • Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, SNU Mechatronics — Jiyeop Kim (2023)

  • Excellence Award, SNU Undergraduate Research Program — Jun Heon Lee (2023)

  • Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis Presentation Award, Seoul National University — In Young Kim, Yoonjong Jung (2022)

  • Young Engineer Award, Korean Society for Precision Engineering — Amy K. Han (2022)

  • 2nd Place, Living Appliance Technology Idea Competition, Samsung–SNU — Dohyun Lee (2022)

  • Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award, Institute of Control, Robotics, and Systems — Amy K. Han (2022)