Our department's joint research team consisting of Professor Choongsoo Shin (research leader), Professor Namgeun Kim, Professor Jihwan Song, and Professor Hyungseok Lee of the Department of Mechanical Convergence Engineering at Kangwon National University has been newly selected for the 2026 Advanced Basic Research Laboratory Support Project hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The name of the research project is 'Basic Laboratory for Enhancing Walking Ability Based on 3D TENG Insole Embedded Physical AI Exoboots', and the research period will be 3 years from July 2026 to June 2029, with a total of 1.5 billion won in research funding.

Recently, demand for exoskeletons and exosuits that assist walking and work has increased, but current technology still has several limitations for use in real environments. This project aims to develop simple modular exoboots that minimize external drive cables, and plans to develop a self-powered TENG sensor insole to implement a gait sensing module and develop an intelligent AI control algorithm capable of real-time diagnosis and adaptation to control the exoboots. In addition, we plan to demonstrate the effectiveness of exoboots in enhancing walking ability through human experiments.