“You cannot always win, but you can always learn.”
“Failure is not the end, but a new start to the next level.”
World-renowned Robotics Engineer Dennis Hong Presents a Lecture 

Starting in 2017, Korea University School of Business will host an annual forum about the future, KUBS Futurum. UCLA Professor and robot scholar Dennis Hong was invited to lecture for the first session of the lecture series held at 4:00 PM on Monday, May 22 on the 4th floor Supex Hall of Korea University’s LG-POSCO Hall.

Professor Dennis Hong is a famous robotics scholar known for developing a self-driving car for the visually impaired. He has been nicknamed the “Da Vinci of Robotics” because of his inventions, such as DARwin, a robot that can dribble a ball, and BALLU, a pillowy robot made from helium gas balloons.

In the lecture themed, “All Robots Fall Down,” Professor Dennis Hong started by saying, “I would like to convey a message through a lecture about humanoid robots that resemble humans.” Professor Dennis Hong then went on to say, “Humanoid robots mean robots that look like humans. Why must robots look like humans? It is difficult to make robots walk on two legs such as humans. Louis Sullivan said that form follows function. The shape of a product is determined by where it will be used. To live together with us, robots must be in human form.”

He said that his reason for researching robots was to understand humans. In addition, Professor Hong mentioned that scientists do not accurately understand the walking mechanism of humans, but they are attempting to understand it in the development process of humanoid robots. He also said that some people may point out why he opens his robot development technology for free. While agonizing over “Why did I start this?,” he explained that he thought it was a matter of “It is something that I started for research and educational purposes and therefore it could only be open and not I must sell it.”

Robots manufactured by Professor Dennis Hong have done well at many competitions and have become the talk of the town. He won the RoboCup each year from 2011 to 2015. However, good results were not achieved every time. In the finals of the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge that was considered important, the robot fell over preventing the team from placing at the top. Seeing the tears of disappointment in the students’ eyes, he said that “You can’t always win, but you can always learn,” and that “There is not one successful person that has not experienced failure. If you watch and learn from failure, it can serve as the springboard to the next level. Although we failed in this competition, we did not give up.” He showed the aspects of a leader in emphasizing that a robot can fall down, but that it is important for the team to rise up again.

He said, “Robot challenges are not competitions.” He explained, “This is because saving humans is not a competition, but a challenge.”

He shared an anecdote of when upon successfully completing the test drive of a car developed for the blind based on his experiences of spending time together with the blind, his eyes teared up in the heartwarming moment he shared a hug with the blind lady that was the actual driver of the car. He went on to say, “I still remember that moment. I had always thought that the technology we are researching is for humans, but it had always been just in my mind. That day was the first time I felt it in my heart.” 

Professor Dennis Hong said, “The general public’s expectations towards robots are extremely high. Compared to this, the road that robots must take is very far and there are many things to be developed.” During this process, while anticipating going through numerous failures and challenges, he concluded the lecture by saying that, “If robots did not break down or fall over, there would be nothing to learn. Humans are the same. Failure is not the end. It is only a new start.”