| CARVIEW |
Welcome to Robotics & Intelligent Construction Automation Lab
-R I C A L-
The Robotics & Intelligent Construction Automation Lab is directed by Dr. Yong K. ChoProfessor of the School of Civil and Environmental Enginering at Georgia Institute of Technology.
The lab is leading the development of a new paradigm in these research areas by challenging the current understanding of science/engineering technologies in real-world automated and robotic field operations. Among the challenges the lab is investigating are robotizing and automating several critical field tasks for disaster relief, construction operations & management, infrastructure maintenance, and worker’s health, safety, and productivity improvement.
The lab is leading the development of a new paradigm in these research areas by challenging the current understanding of science/engineering technologies in real-world automated and robotic field operations. Among the challenges the lab is investigating are robotizing and automating several critical field tasks for disaster relief, construction operations & management, infrastructure maintenance, and worker’s health, safety, and productivity improvement.
Research Project
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Smart & Connected construction
Automation & Robotics
2D/3D semantic data understanding
Others
Our RICAL Team
Director
Professor
Director of Robotics & Intelligent Construction Automation Lab
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Co-Editor-In-Cheif, ASCE Computing in Civil Engineering
Office: Mason 4140B
Phone: +01-404-385-2038
E-mail: yong.cho@ce.gatech.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Profile at CEE website
Youtube Channel
Lab members
Seongyong Kim
CEE Ph.D. Student
Dissertation topic: TBD
E-mail: skim3310@gatech.edu
Website: syoi92.github.io
Yilong Chen
CEE Ph.D. Student
Dissertation topic: TBD
E-mail: ychen3339@gatech.edu
Website: chenyilong0520.github.io/
Jitae Kim
Research Technician
Alumni & Friends
>>Visiting Scholars
Jungwook Suh, Ph.D. (2024-2026)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Robotics,
Kyungpook Nat'l Univ., Korea
E-mail: jwsuh@knu.ac.kr
Website:https://sites.google.com/view/aromelab/
Seung-Jung Lee, Ph.D. (2024-2025)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civ. & Env. Eng.,
Incheon Nat'l Univ., Korea
E-mail: seungjung@inu.ac.kr
Website: https://predictfailure.weebly.com
Dong-Keon Kim, Ph.D. (2024-2025)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Arch. Eng.,
Center for ICT Integrated Safe Ocean Smart City, Korea
E-mail: dkkzone@dau.ac.kr
Junsuk Kang, Ph.D.
(2023-2024)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Land. Arch. & Rural Sys. Eng.,
Seoul Nat'l Univ., Korea
E-mail: junkang@snu.ac.kr
Website:https://snuge.modoo.at/
Young-min Jin
(2022-2023)
Deputy Director, Advanced Logistics Division, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea
E-mail: forcivil@korea.kr
Minchoul Park, Ph.D. (2022-2023)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Railroad Management and Logistics,
Korea Nat'l Univ. of Transportation, Korea
E-mail: minchoul@ut.ac.kr
Dooil Kim, Ph.D. (2020-2021)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Dankook Univ., Korea
GT Alumni (2007, Ph.D.)
E-mail: dikim21@dankook.ac.kr
Man-Woo Park, Ph.D. (2019-2020)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Myongji Univ., Korea
GT Alumni (2012, Ph.D.)
E-mail: mwpark@mju.ac.kr
ByungJik Son, Ph.D. (2017-2018)
Professor, Dept. of International Civil & Plant Engineering,
Konyang Univ., Korea
E-mail: strustar@konyang.ac.kr
Hoon Song, Ph.D. (2017-2018)
Energy & Environmental Division, Eco Composite Materials Team leader,
Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology (KICET), Korea
GT Alumni (2007, Ph.D.)
E-mail: songhun@kicet.re.kr
>>Visiting Students
Dongyeong Ko (2025-2026)
Graduate Researcher, Smart Construction Information Technology Lab, SKKU, Korea
E-mail: ehddud3555@skku.edu
Hyunjae Sim (2024-2026)
Affiliated Researcher, Institute of Advanced Material Processing Technology, Korea
E-mail: hsim31@gatech.edu
>>Postdocs
Jisoo Park, Ph.D.
Major: Civi Engineering, Georgia Tech (Dec 2020)
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Built Environment, Indiana State University
E-mail: jisoo.park@indstate.edu
Website:youngbrain85.github.io/
Inbae Jeong, Ph.D.
Graduated from KAIST
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, North Dakota State University
E-mail: inbae.jeong@ndsu.edu
Youjin Jang, Ph.D.
Graduated from Seoul National University
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Construction Management and Engineering, North Dakota State University
E-mail: y.jang@ndsu.edu
>>Ph.D.
YeSeul Kim
Graduation Date: May 2025
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Construction Management, Colorado State University
E-mail: yeseul.kim@colostate.edu
Kinam Kim
Graduation Date: May 2022
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Construction Management, University of Houston
E-mail: kkim48@central.uh.edu
Website: ki-nam.github.io
Jingdao Chen
Graduation Date: May 2021
Major: Robotics, Georgia Tech
Current position: Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University
E-mail:chenjingdao@cse.msstate.edu
Pileun Kim
Graduation Date: Dec 2020
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position: Assistant Professor, Korea Aerospace University
E-mail:
JeeWoong(Jay) Park, Ph.D.
Graduation Date: May 2017
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Techy
Current position: Assistant Professor, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas
E-mail: jee.park@unlv.edu
Yihai Fang, Ph.D.
Graduation Date: Dec 2016
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position: Assistant Professor, Monash University in Australia
E-mail: Yihai.Fang@monash.edu
Kyungki Kim, Ph.D.
Graduation Date: May 2016
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
E-mail: kkim13@unl.edu
Chao Wang, Ph.D.
Graduation Date: July 2014
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position: Associate Professor, Louisiana State University
E-mail: chaowang@lsu.edu
Eric Marks, Ph.D (co-advised)
Graduation Date: May 2014
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech
Current position:Professor of Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology
E-mail: eric.marks@ce.gatech.edu
Keke Zheng, Ph.D.(co-advised)
Graduation Date: May 2013
Major: Architectural Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Current position: Research Engineering Associate, Institute of Building Environment and Energy Efficiency,
China Academy of Building Research No. 30 East Beisanhuan, Beijing, China 100013
Email: kzheng01@foxmail.com
Daihong Yu, Ph.D.(co-advised)
Graduation Date: Dec. 2012
Major: Architectural Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
>>Master
Carter Price
M.S. Student at Mechanical Engineering/Computer Science
Graduation Date: May 2020
E-mail: lprice8@gatech.edu
Beomgu Jung, MS
Graduation Date: May 2018
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Current position: DON Construction (https://donconstructioncorp.com/), Closter, NJ, 07624
E-mail: tigernine1982@gmail.com
Willy Suryanto, MS
Graduation date: May 2015
Major: Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Research topic: Mobile Assets Tracking
Mengmeng Gai, MS
Major: Construction Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: Automatic Object Recognition and Registration of Dynamic Heavy Equipment Using a Hybrid LADAR System
Ziqing Zhuang, MS
Major: Construction Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: Effectiveness study of Non-Nuclear Gauge for Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Pavement Construction
Koudous Kabassi, MS, MBA
Major: Construction Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: Effectiveness Study on Temporary Pavement Marking Removals Methods
Current position: Quality Engineer at Kiewit Construction Southwest Division
Thaddaeus Bode, M.S., MBA
Major: Construction Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: An Analysis of The Impacts of Temperature Segregation on Hot Mix Asphalt Pavements and The Variables That Contribute to It
Current position: Sustainability Engineer at Omaha Public Power District
Diego Martinez, MS
Major: Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: Mobile Robot Path Plannning for Construction Indoor Asset Tracking
Current position: Telecom Design Engineer at Qualcomm
Heejung Im, MS
Major: Management Information System, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Current position: Telecom specialist at Samsung Telecommunications of America
Sultan Alakar, MS
Major: Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thesis: Energy Simulation for Zero Net Energy Homes
>>Undergraduate students
Eumin Hong
Major in Computer Science & Mathematics
at Columbia University
E-mail: eh2890@columbia.edu
NEWS
Hybrid site sensing and human-multi-robot team collaboration for disaster relief at nuclear power plants
Welcome Mr. Jee Woong Park to join RICAL as a Ph.D. Student. Mr. Jee Woong Park graduated from Stanford University with M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
A big “welcome back” goes out to Dr. Yong-Kwon Cho, MSCE ’97, who is returning to CEE as an associate professor this fall. Cho comes to Georgia Tech most recently from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he taught civil engineering after earning his doctorate at the University of Texas. A 2011 recipient of the NSF Early Career Award, his research interests include building energy, construction automation, and transportation. He is leading the development of a new paradigm in these research areas by challenging the current understanding of science/engineering technologies in construction and sustainable built environments. Among the challenges he is investigating are robotizing several critical construction tasks; and developing sustainable energy improvement methods for buildings.
Robotics and Intelligent Construction Automation Lab has officially relocated to GaTech Bunger Henry Building Room 214 from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Lab is currently under construction.
Congratulations to Dr. Cho and Mengmeng Gai for their paper "Automatic object recognition of dyanmic construction equipment from a 3D point cloud" being selected as recipient of the best paper award of the 2013 ISARC conference in Montreal, Candata.
Dr. Cho gave a presentation about our accpted paper "Real-time 3D visualization of multiple heavy construction equipment operations using LADAR" in the 2013 ASCE International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering at the University of Southern California, LA, California.
Opening Positions
Graduate Research Assistant
positions with full financial support are available in Spring or Fall in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at GaTech. Visiting Ph.D. students are welcomed as well.
The admitted students will pursue Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering with a special focus on construction engineering. The students are expected to work with Dr. Cho in the general field of data sensing, 3D LADAR control for robotic construction operation, Rapid 3D Built Environment Modeling, Building Information Modeling, and UAV. The selected students will be able to involve in multiple external projects funded by NSF, State DOT, TRB, and private sector.
Ph.D. in Robotics Instiute: Students admitted to other engineering programs at Georgia Tech (Mechanincal engineering, interactive computing, electrical and computer engineering ) can also join the RICAL group under Dr. Cho's supervision. See more details about the Ph.D. program in Robotics Institute at https://robotics.gatech.edu/education/phd. Contact Dr. Cho if you are interested in pursuing Ph.D. study at the Robotics Institute.
Minimum Requirements:
1) B.S. in engineering or related fields, other general admission requirements of GaTech please refer this link.
2) Proficient with one of the following programming languages: (visual) C++, Java, C, C#, python
3) Good oral / writing skills in English and good communication skill.
Desirable Qualifications:
1) M.S. in Engineering or related fields.
2) Tier 1 journal paper publication(s).
3) Experiences related to one or more of the following areas:
- Electronic Design & Prototyping, Custom Firmware and Board (PCB) Design
- Hardware system design(Mechanical Engineering Majors)
- Mobile robot: design & prototyping, autonomous navigation, path planning, IMU, SLAM (ME, EE, or CS majors)
- UAV: design & prototyping, indoor/outdoor navigation, data collection, IMU
- IoT, cloud computing
Please send your latest CV to Dr. Cho or lab members if you are interested in joining our research group.
Articles about Dr. Cho and RICAL
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
- University of Texas at Austin, Civil Engineering, Ph.D., 2000
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Civil Engineering, M.S., 1997
- Inha University in Korea, Civil Engineering, B.S,. 1996
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Construction field automation and robotics, visualization, innovations in civil infrastructure construction and maintenance, and sustainable energy in the built environment
APPOINTMENTS
- 07/20-present, Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
- 08/13-present, Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
- 08/11-08/13, Associate Professor, Durham School of Architectural Engineering & Construction (DSAEC), University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- 08/05-07/11, Assistant Professor, Durham School of Architectural Engineering & Construction (DSAEC), University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- 06/08-08/08, Invited Research Associate, Architectural and Civil Engineering Department, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
- 08/01-08/05, Assistant Professor, Building Construction Management Program, Industrial Studies Dept., University of Wisconsin-Platteville
- 2/00-07/01, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
- 01/98-12/00, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
- 01/91-05/93, Sergeant, Dept. of Military Police, the 3rd Republic of Korea Army Headquarters
HONORS AND AWARDS
- 2019, Outstanding reviewer of ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.
- 2019, Best Paper Award, “Configuration Optimization For End-Point Stabilization Of Redundant Manipulators With Base Flexibility.” 2019 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference Park City, Utah, October 8-11.
- 2018, Distinguished Professor for 2018 Award, Construction Industry Institute (CII) Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, July 24.
- 2018, Best Paper Award, “SLAM-driven Intelligent Autonomous Mobile Robot Navigation for Construction Applications.” European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering (EG-ICE), 25th Workshop, Lausanne, Switzerland, Jun, 10-13.
- 2017, Best Paper Award: First runner-up, "Building element recognition with thermal-mapped point clouds." International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC), Taipei, Taiwan, June 30, 2017.
- 2016, Best Paper Award, "Automatic registration of laser scanned color point clouds based on common feature extraction.” International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC), Auburn, AL, July 20, 2016.
- 2016, Outstanding Leadership Award, Korean-American Construction Engineering and Project Management Association, Puerto Rico, May.
- 2015, Leadership in Use of Educational Technology Award at School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech
- 2014, Outstanding reviewer of ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
- 2014, Bill Schutz Junior Faculty Teaching Award at School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech
- 2014, Recipient of NSF Travel Grant for North America-East Asia Workshop on Big Data Analytics for Infrastructure and Building Sustainability and Resilience (IBSR) Research, Beijing, China, Sept 19-20, 2014
- 2013, Best paper award, International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, Montreal, Canada, August 24, 2013
- 2013, Outstanding Educator, Durham School, University of Nebraska-Lincoln(UNL), April 18, 2013
- 2012, Outstanding reviewer of ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering
- 2012, Research & Creative Activity Award, College of Engineering, UNL
- 2011, NSF Early Faculty CAREER Award from the Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) Program
- 2010, Construction Programs 2010 Professor of the Year, Durham School, UNL
- 2009, Excellent Paper Award, “Virtual Interactive Construction Education (VICE) using BIM tools,” 3rd International Conference on Construction Engineering and Management and 6th International Conference on Construction Project Management, Jeju, Korea, May 27-30
- 1999, TEXACO Scholarship, TEXACO, University of Texas at Austin
- 1996, Graduation Honor Award (ranked 1st out of 99 students), Inha University, Korea.
FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
- Go to Funding History
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION AND ACTIVITIES
Editor- Specialty Editor, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE
- Assistant Specialty Editor, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE
- Editorial Review Board, Journal of Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management (ECAM), Emerald
- 2018- Present, Member, Executive Committee (ExCom), ASCE Computing Division
- 2018- Present, Academic Advisor for FIATECH at Construction Industry Institute (CII)
- 2016- present, Board of Directory (BOD) Member, International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC)
- 2017-2018, Chair, ASCE Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation (VIMS) committee
- 2015-2017, Vice Chair, ASCE Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation (VIMS) committee
- 2013- 2015, Secretary, ASCE Visualization, Information, and Simulation (VIMS) Committee
- 2013-2015, Leader, Visualization Grand Challenges (VGC) team organized by ASCE Visualization, Information, and Simulation (VIMS) Committee
- 2014-2015, President, Korean American Construction Engineering and Project Management Association (KACEPMA)
- 2005- present, Director, Robotics & Intelligent Construction Automation Lab (R.I.C.A.L.) at Univ. of Nebraska and Georgia Tech
- Organizing committee chair of the 2019 ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, Atlanta, GA. June 16-18, 2019.
- Chair, Automation and Robotics Track, 2018 ASCE Construction Research Congress (CRC), New Orleans, LA, April 2-5, 2018.
- Co-Chair, Visualization, Information Modeling and Simulation (VIMS) Track, 2013 ASCE International Workshop of Computing in Civil Engineering at Univ. of Southern California (USC) in June 2013.
- Co-Chair, Robotics and Hardware Automation Track, 2013 the 30th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) and Mining, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 11-15, 2013.
- Chair, Organizing committee of Construction session, 2012 US-Korea Conference (UKC) in Anaheim, CA, August 7-12, 2012
- ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
- Journal of Automation in Construction
- ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering
- Journal of Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
- Journal of Construction Management and Economics
- ASCE Journal of Architectural Engineering
- IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics
- ASCE Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
- ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering
- Korean Society of Civil Engineers(KSCE), Journal of Civil Engineering
- International Journal of Construction Education and Research
- Journal of Visualization in Engineering
- Member, FIATECH at Constrution Industry Institute (CII)
- Member, Construction Research Council (CRC)
- Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- Member, ASCE TCCIT Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation Committee
- Member, ASCE TCCIT Data Sensing and Analysis Committee
- Member, Construction Institute (CI)
- Member, International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC)
- Member, Korean Society of Civil Engineers (KSCE)
- Member, Korean-American Constrution Engineering and Project Management Association (KACEPMA)
- Member, Korean-American Society of Civil and Environmental Engineers (KSCEE)
- Member, Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA)
- Member, Construction Industry Institute (CII) Academic Committee
- Member, Associated Schools of Construction (ASC)