Emeritus Professor Jun-ho Oh made headlines in 2015 by developing the humanoid robot ‘DRC-Hubo’, which won the 2015 DARPA Challenge. In 2011, he created his startup called “Rainbow Robotics”, of which he is now the CTO. During a ceremony at KAIST on October 25, he donated 20% of the shares of Rainbow Robotics, which was equivalent to 5 Billion KRW when listed on KOSDAQ earlier this year thanks to the public success of his work, as well as the support from KAIST during his time here. After selling these stocks, KAIST created the Jun-ho Oh fund, which is said to be used for the development of the university. 

Professor Oh’s company Rainbow Robotics has continued to focus on developing humanoid robots, but also develops collaborative robots for factory-style work as well as robotics devices for astronomical photography and observations. In 2018, the rideable bipedal humanoid robot FX-2 was part of the torch relay in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The robot’s movement works by motion detection of the human controller’s own movements. Other robots developed by the startup are Jay, MIXX, and Hubo-2; which are respectively a multimedia entertainment system, a robotic barista, and the first commercialized humanoid robot platform.

Professor Oh is the 39th KAIST faculty member to launch a startup based off the research done in his lab, and is currently the biggest faculty entrepreneur donor as a result. During the ceremony, he recognized and thanked the support provided by KAIST for his research, stating “I am delighted to pay back the university”. He hopes that he has done his part in cultivating KAIST’s startup ecosystem for students and staff alike to benefit from in the future. In response to this, the KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee commented “We will spare no efforts to support startups at KAIST”. He hopes that Professor Oh’s success will inspire the upcoming staff and students as an exemplary model.