Contact

Get in touch with the PIER Lab at KIST.

Location

PIER Lab (Physical Intelligence & Embodied Robotics Laboratory)
Center for Humanoid Research, KIST
5 Hwarang-ro 14-gil, Seongbuk-gu
Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea

Email

PI: jang90@kist.re.kr
(Dr. Keunwoo Jang · 장근우)

Prospective Students

We are actively looking for motivated students and researchers passionate about physical intelligence and embodied robotics. Our lab works on whole-body control of humanoid and mobile manipulator systems, visuomotor policy learning, imitation learning and teleoperation, and physically intelligent robotic systems for real-world deployment.

Openings are available for M.S. / Ph.D. students (through UST — Korea University of Science and Technology) and undergraduate / intern researchers. If you are interested, please send the following to jang90@kist.re.kr:

  • CV / résumé
  • Academic transcripts
  • Brief statement of research interest

Open Positions

M.S. / Ph.D. Student — Humanoid & Whole-Body Control

We seek graduate students to work on whole-body motion generation, hierarchical control, and physically intelligent interaction for humanoid and mobile manipulator systems. Research involves HQP-based control, real robot deployment with Unitree G1 and Franka FR3.

  • Background in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, robotics, or related field
  • Proficiency in C++ and/or Python; familiarity with ROS/ROS2
  • Interest in control theory, optimization, or real robot experimentation
  • Enrollment through UST (Korea University of Science and Technology)
Apply

M.S. / Ph.D. Student — Visuomotor Policy & Imitation Learning

Join our team to develop data-driven visuomotor policies for robot manipulation. Research includes behavior cloning, learning from teleoperation demonstrations, and vision-language-action (VLA) models for dexterous tasks in daily-life environments.

  • Background in machine learning, computer science, or robotics
  • Experience with PyTorch or similar deep learning frameworks
  • Interest in robot learning, imitation learning, or foundation models
  • Enrollment through UST (Korea University of Science and Technology)
Apply

Undergraduate / Intern Researcher

Undergraduate and intern researcher positions are available for students interested in gaining hands-on experience with real robotic systems. Projects span robot control, teleoperation, hardware integration, and learning-based manipulation.

  • Enrolled in a B.S. program in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or related field
  • Enthusiasm for robotics and willingness to work with real hardware
  • Basic programming skills (Python and/or C++)
Apply