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Kyung Jun "Paul" Lee

Education

B.S. in Mechanial Science and Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Class of 2019

Kyung Jun "Paul" Lee

Biography

Paul was born in Seoul, South Korea, but spent his childhood and teenage years in Manila, Philippines. Paul chose to be an engineer, because he was fascinated with robots, cars, and electronics since his childhood. He specifically decided to become a mechanical engineer because he was interested in the hands-on experience in designing and creating the physical body. His main field of interest is controls and robotics. Paul’s interest in robotics spurred from “robotic arm” which he created with the project team of iRobotics. Before starting his research experience in the field of robotics, he first started his research experience in Rogers Research Group, where he investigated in thin, soft, skin-mounted devices used to monitor and analyze human sweat. Paul now works in Bio-inspired Adaptive Morphology Lab, to research in the elements consisting the ornithopter. Outside the school, he worked in Samsung Electronics, where he developed future mobile devices. Now, as a graduating student, Paul aspires to study and research in controls and robotics in his future.

Research

Winglet Project

Paul’s research is focused on the actuation and controls of winglets (wingtips) in UAVs, which operate at low Reynolds number like birds do. The winglet shape is inspired from the primary feathers of Harris’s Hawk. Multiple segmented winglets are fabricated from 3D composites which display bending-torsion coupling. The bending-torsion coupling composite winglets are used to passively change the dihedral and twist angle through the aerodynamic loadings during flight. The gap spacing between the winglets is actuated by the SMA wires. When deployed, the winglets overlay on top of each other by reducing the gap spacing to increase the overall stiffness of the winglets. The designed system will be used for reducing the induced drag and directional control of an aircraft.

Publications

Kyung Jun Lee and Aimy Wissa "Dynamic characterization of a bio-inspired variable stiffness multi-winglet device", Proc. SPIE 11377, Behavior and Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials IX, 113770K (21 May 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2558348

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