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About

Hanjong Kim is a researcher at the intersection of human-computer interaction, digital fabrication, and engineering education, with a primary focus on democratizing kinetic mechanism design. His major contributions center on developing accessible prototyping tools that empower nonexperts—including students and artists—to design, simulate, and fabricate moving mechanical systems such as automata and robots. Kim’s seminal work, “Mechanism Perfboard” (2018, 28 citations), introduced a novel approach for rapidly prototyping kinetic mechanisms during early-concept exploration, addressing the challenge of unpredictable mechanical behavior. He further advanced this field with M.Sketch, a prototyping tool first presented in 2016 (9 citations) and elaborated in a 2018 paper (14 citations), which enables users to sketch, simulate, and physically build linkage-based mechanisms without requiring engineering expertise. This work has been deployed in STEM and arts education, bridging the gap between conceptual design and tangible fabrication. Notably, Kim’s research extends to materials science, as seen in his study on the fatigue lives of robot-welded versus manually welded carbon steel (2019, 2 citations), demonstrating a diverse technical background. With a cumulative citation count exceeding 50, Kim’s tools have influenced how educators and hobbyists approach mechanical prototyping, making him a key figure in accessible design and fabrication research.