Heather Kim

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Upson 529

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

My research is motivated by textile-based wearables that integrate actuation and sensing. In the grand scheme, I envision that fiber-form sensors, actuators, and user-friendly fabrication tools will empower healthcare providers and transform these wearables into equitable healthcare solutions. I am interested in developing responsive fibers and deformable structures, as well as overcoming hardware limitations when devices are integrated into fabric structures.

I am currently a postdoctoral associate in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. I completed my PhD in Human Behavior and Design at Cornell in May 2024. My work has been published at robotics and HCI venues, such as IEEE IROS, CHI, IMWUT, and DIS, with Best Paper Honorable Mention awards. My work has also been featured in the Daily Mail, New Atlas, Trend Hunter, Hackster.io, and the Cornell Chronicle, culminating in my selection as an EECS Rising Star 2023.

Research

In my research, I work across a broad class of polymer-based materials, extending well beyond textiles. The applications of my core research framework can be distilled into three thrusts.

Compliant Health Devices That Modulate User Physiology

I focus on devices that interact with the body mechatronically and biochemically. Mechatronic devices apply controlled mechanical forces to the body using responsive materials or soft actuators in direct contact with the body. Biochemical devices deliver therapeutic agents transdermally. Designing and controlling these systems requires a good deal of understanding of material properties and the underlying physics.

Compliant health devices

Compliant Transducers: Sensors and Energy Generators

To personalize health devices, I develop compliant sensors that can extract mechanical and biochemical information from the user. For these devices to function over extended durations, they must be self-sustaining. I am therefore exploring subsystems that harvest energy from user motion (work in progress).

Compliant sensors and energy generators

Compliant Actuating Wearables That Perform On-Body Tasks

Soft wearable devices are particularly effective at performing specific tasks on the user's body. I have developed wearable devices that enable locomotion on the body and deliver tactile feedback. Although these systems do not directly modulate the user's biological state, they can supplement health devices or carry out assistive functions.

Compliant actuating wearables

News

Apr 03, 2026 Our paper was accepted to the 17th World Symposium on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR)! This project started during my PhD and has been near and dear to my heart - a swarm of robots that can infer their surroundings using minimalistic computation. Huge credit to Alex Nilles for leading the work, with support from Kirstin. The work will appear in Springer Advanced Robotics. Check back in for more details.
Dec 20, 2025 Two papers accepted to the Haptics Symposium and TEI! Fun collaborations with Luoyan Zhong and Dr. Jo’s group at U of Georgia. We have open sourced our Haptics Symposium paper here. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Chicago and Reno :wave:.
Sep 25, 2025 I’m incredibly honored and grateful to my lab for their support in helping me receive the Postdoctoral Achievement Award.
Jan 20, 2025 Hello Boston! I’ll be presenting my postdoctoral research and its direction on February 15, 2025, at the AAAS Annual Meeting 2025.
Sep 21, 2024 I’ll be presenting my work and chairing the Haptics and Tactile Feedback session at Ubicomp 2024. Don’t miss some fascinating papers covering a wide range of topics, including contactless sensing, vibrotactile feedback, electrostatic actuators for VR, remotely powered LRAs and ERMs, and applications of piezoelectric sensors.

Latest posts

Selected publications

  1. ACM DIS
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    KnitDermis: Fabricating Tactile On-Body Interfaces Through Machine Knitting
    Jin Hee (Heather) Kim, Kunpeng Huang, Simone White, and 2 more authors
    In Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Virtual Event, USA, 2021
  2. ACM CHI
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    KnitSkin: Machine-Knitted Scaled Skin for Locomotion
    Jin Hee (Heather) Kim, Shreyas Dilip Patil, Sarina Matson, and 2 more authors
    In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New Orleans, LA, USA, 2022
  3. ACM CHI
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    KnitDema: Robotic Textile as Personalized Edema Mobilization Device
    Jin Hee (Heather) Kim, Joan Stilling, Michael O’Dell, and 1 more author
    In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hamburg, Germany, 2023
  4. IEEE IROS
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    Robotic Barrier Construction through Weaved, Inflatable Tubes
    Heather Jin Hee Kim*, Haron Abdel-Raziq*, Xinyu Liu, and 4 more authors
    In 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2023
  5. ACM IMWUT
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    MediKnit: Soft Medical Making for Personalized and Clinician-Designed Wearable Devices for Hand Edema
    Heather Jin Hee Kim, Narjes Pourjafarian, Arhan Choudhury, and 2 more authors
    In Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, Melbourne, Australia, 2024