Hyo-Sil Kim

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Hyo-Sil Kim’s research lies at the intersection of computational geometry, motion planning, and optimization, with a central focus on the fundamental challenge of computing shortest paths under curvature constraints. Her work addresses the problem of navigating a Dubins car—a vehicle with a bounded turning radius—through a sequence of points, a problem that arises in robotics, autonomous navigation, and the Dubins traveling salesman problem. Kim’s most influential contribution, the 2013 paper “Bounded-Curvature Shortest Paths through a Sequence of Points Using Convex Optimization” (57 citations), introduced a novel convex optimization framework that transformed a traditionally intractable geometric problem into a computationally efficient one. This work, building on earlier papers from 2010 and 2012, systematically analyzed the “cost of bounded curvature,” providing both theoretical bounds and practical algorithms for path planning in the presence of obstacles. While her citation counts reflect a focused, specialized audience, the impact of her work is evident in its adoption by researchers tackling nonholonomic motion planning and optimal control. Kim’s contributions are particularly notable for bridging geometric intuition with rigorous optimization, offering a clear, principled approach to a classic robotics problem.