A Guide to Joining APRL
Autonomy and Perceptual Robotics Lab ยท Revision date: March 15, 2026
If you are interested in applying for the master's or doctoral programs in our lab, or seeking career guidance in related fields, please follow the steps below.
Note: Even if you are not planning to join the lab but wish to study SLAM and 3D vision, completing Steps 1-2 can still be beneficial.
Current Lab Openings
No available positions for 2026.
Information on positions for 2027 (Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, Interdisciplinary Program in Artificial Intelligence) will be announced in April 2026.
Open Position Details
- SLAM + Embodied AI for AIMS project, 2026-2029.
1. Explore APRL's Research Areas
APRL works on the following research keywords and related topics.
Try out the following hands-on exercises to see if you find them enjoyable:
- Visual SLAM: pySLAM
- Visual Place Recognition: OpenVPRLab
- Nonlinear ICP: Symforce-tutorial-sim(3)
- Aided Inertial Navigation: mini-pyllio
- LiDAR SLAM (Python): PyICP-SLAM
- LiDAR SLAM (C++): SC-A-LOAM
- Pose-Graph Optimization: nano-pgo
- Dense Mapping: tsdf-fusion
- Local Feature Matching: Image Matching WebUI
- SfM and Visual Localization: hloc
- Monodepth Estimation: Turn 2D Image into 3D Map
- Gaussian Splatting: Scaniverse App
- 3D Foundation Models: Dustr3r
- Bird's Eye View Mapping: MapItAnywhere
Do not worry if you do not understand everything from the start. Ask yourself whether these activities are fun, even without fully knowing the underlying principles. Deep interest is the only differentiating credential.
2. Explore Papers by Other Labs
Read papers from top-tier conferences and journals such as ICRA, IROS, CoRL, RSS, RA-L, T-RO, and IJRR by the following labs:
- Ayoung Kim (SNU)
- Cyrill Stachniss (University of Bonn)
- Maurice Fallon (University of Oxford)
- Javier Civera (Universidad de Zaragoza)
- Fu Zhang (HKU)
- Shaojie Shen (HKUST)
- Tim Barfoot (University of Toronto)
- Niko Suenderhauf (Queensland University of Technology)
- Chen Wang (University at Buffalo)
- Michael Kaess (Carnegie Mellon University)
- Sebastian Scherer (Carnegie Mellon University)
- Xieyuanli Chen (NUDT)
3. Understand Ongoing Projects at APRL
Refer to the research areas under the Research tab on our website. From 2025 to 2029, APRL aims to answer questions such as:
- How can five heterogeneous robots autonomously explore DGIST's 310-meter Consilience Hall within a single day and achieve comprehensive spatial understanding?
- How can a humanoid robot autonomously take public transportation from Gangnam to DGIST?
- How should verbal and non-verbal human expressions be integrated into planning and decision-making for navigation?
These objectives contribute to defining SLAM 2.0 and advancing the associated individual technologies. If you have an exciting idea related to mobile robot autonomy and perception, please feel free to propose it.
We are seeking students who can craft compelling questions, even before providing answers.
4. Evaluate Advisor Fit
Assess whether Professor Giseop Kim is someone you would like to work with. You can also refer to his Korean blog posts on being a robotics engineer, building an academic brand, Ph.D. mindset, and sustainable early-stage research growth.
5. Send Contact or Counseling Request Emails
Send a contact or counseling request email regarding lab admission to gsk@dgist.ac.kr.
Required Information
- Name / Current Status
- Self-introduction within 500 characters
- Two interesting papers, with a brief summary and why they interested you. One must be from the labs listed in Step 2.
- Relevant robotics and computer vision courses taken. Do not include GPA or transcripts.
- Experiences of solving a problem, and attempting to solve a problem but failing, up to 500 characters each.
- Your most impressive project that utilized AI assistants, including problem definition, development process, and outcomes.
- Optional mechanical or electrical hands-on experiences.
Include the prefix [DGIST RME APRL Contact Inquiry] or [DGIST RME APRL Counseling Request] in the subject line.
6. FAQ
There are no remaining openings for 2026. Can I still send a contact or counseling email?
Yes. We can provide research consultation if needed, although we may not be able to reply to every email.
What about the advisor's guidance capabilities?
You can check the advisor's papers and impact on Google Scholar. The lab aims to support students toward at least one top-tier conference or journal paper per student annually.
What are the admission process, selection criteria, and open slots?
These will be shared after completing Steps 1-5 and conducting interviews.