KAIST

< (From left of the award recipients) Ph. D candidate Sungjae Min, Ph. D candidate Gyuree Kang, Professor David Hyunchul Shim,  Ph.D candidate Hyungjoo Kim > 

KAIST announced on June 5th that a paper proposing an aircraft autonomous piloting framework based on the humanoid robot pilot ‘PIBOT,’ developed by a research team led by Professor David Hyunchul Shim of the School of Electrical Engineering, was selected as the Best Paper Award among the papers published in the IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine (IEEE RAM) in 2025.

< The proposed PIBOT system framework capable of piloting based on aviation manuals and voice communication without modifying existing aircraft > 

This award is highly meaningful as it signifies that grassroots research based entirely on domestic, independent initiatives has been recognized as a world-class achievement in robotics. The award ceremony took place in Vienna, Austria, on June 4, 2026 (local time) during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2026). IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine (IEEE RAM) is a prestigious academic magazine published by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), under the umbrella of IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization. It is well known for delivering the latest research achievements, industry trends, and tutorials in the fields of robotics and automation, widely conveying robot technologies applicable to actual industrial sites to researchers in both industry and academia. As of 2025, IEEE RAM recorded an Impact Factor (IF) of 7.1, holding the second highest impact among IEEE publications in the field of robotics. In particular, it presents the Best Paper Award to research that has a significant academic and industrial impact among the papers published after undergoing rigorous peer review. This study was selected as a Future Challenge Defense Technology Research and Development Project by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) in 2021 and was conducted based purely on domestic technology with support of approximately 5.7 billion won over five years. The research team received high praise for implementing Physical AI technology at an exceptionally high level, enabling a humanoid robot to systematically and adaptively perform complex tasks such as piloting aircraft based on artificial intelligence, going beyond simple walking or carrying items. Recently, humanoid robot technology has been developing rapidly in terms of athletic performance, such as tumbling or implementing complex movements. However, in the industrial sector, the applicability to actual industrial sites is drawing attention as a more critical factor. The pilot robot ‘PIBOT’ being developed by Professor David Hyunchul Shim's research team is designed to acquire specialized knowledge required for aircraft operation and to recognize and respond to actual flight situations in real time, going beyond simple repetitive tasks or logistics processing. Accordingly, it is evaluated as presenting a new direction for the utilization of humanoid robot technology, termed as Expert Physical AI.

< The research team's PIBOT sitting in an actual aircraft (KLA-100) and operating the instruments and control stick >

 The research team has successfully completed Phase 1 of the research since the project launched in 2021, and since 2024, they have been developing Phase 2 of the pilot robot, which features a human-like physique and joint structure suitable for actual aircraft piloting. In addition, they are pursuing collaborative research with relevant organizations to expand and apply this technology to various mobile vehicle piloting fields, such as ground vehicles and ships, as well as aircraft.

< PIBOT performing piloting in an aircraft simulator device > 

Professor David Hyunchul Shim said, “It is very meaningful that the pilot robot technology, proposed for the first time in the world by Korean researchers, has been recognized as a world-class research achievement thanks to the support of a large-scale national project. We will further develop our research in a direction where humanoid robots can help humans in real-world environments and safely operate complex systems.” In this study, PhD students Sungjae Min, Gyuree Kang, and Hyungjoo Kim participated as co-first authors, and Professor David Hyunchul Shim served as the corresponding author. The paper can be found through IEEE Xplore. ※ Paper Title: “Toward Fully Autonomous Aviation: PIBOT, a Humanoid Robot Pilot for Human-Centric Aircraft Cockpits”, Paper Links: https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2024.3505774, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10798973/ Meanwhile, this research was conducted with support from the Agency for Defense Development's Future Challenge Defense Technology Research and Development Project.