About me
Hello, I'm Ulugbek.
An interdisciplinary product R&D researcher who likes to sit at the intersection of people, design, and engineering — and to make that intersection a little less messy.
- Role
- PhD Candidate · Robotics & Product R&D · Human-Centered Engineering
- Based at
- IID Lab, Design Department, UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea
Biography
A short version
I am an interdisciplinary R&D researcher with a B.Sc. in Automation & Control Engineering, an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering, and PhD research in Product & Industrial Design at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), where I work in the Integration & Innovation Design (IID) Lab led by Prof. KwanMyung Kim.
My experience spans robotics and product-development projects end to end: user research, product form and size development, scenario definition, the translation of user scenarios into functional components and engineering specifications, CAD-based product development, prototyping and experimental evaluation. I contributed to the development of the Lemmy elderly-care companion robot — a CES 2025 Innovation Award honoree — and to military and AI-based product-development projects, with a record of publications, patents and technology awards.
My PhD develops Scenario-Oriented Specification (SOS), a design method that helps interdisciplinary teams translate user scenarios into engineering specifications for interactive products, and investigates how AI can support — or quietly disrupt — that collaboration.
Beyond work
Outside the lab I am usually outdoors with a camera. Photography, football, hiking and swimming keep me balanced; some of the photos end up in the gallery.
Philosophy & values
How I think about design and research
Good products rarely fail because someone lacked a good idea. They fail in translation — between what a user needs, what a designer imagines and what an engineer can build. My work is about making those translations explicit, structured and shared, so that intent survives the journey from scenario to specification.
I believe design research should be rigorous and useful at the same time: methods that hold up to academic scrutiny, but that a real team can pick up on a Monday morning.
Principle 01
Start from the human
Every specification, feature and constraint should trace back to a real person, a real context and a real need.
Principle 02
Make the invisible explicit
Assumptions, hand-offs and “obvious” details are where products break. I try to surface them early and write them down.
Principle 03
Design across disciplines
The best products come from designers and engineers sharing one language. I build the methods and tools that make that possible.
Principle 04
Prototype to learn
Ideas are cheap until they meet reality. I favour building, testing and measuring over arguing in the abstract.
Research interests
Design–engineering translation
Frameworks that convert user scenarios into functional requirements and engineering specifications.
Human–AI interaction
How AI tools can (and can't) help interdisciplinary teams, and the factors that drive acceptance of AI-infused systems.
Human-centered design
Keeping real users at the centre of product and service development, from older adults to special forces.
Human factors & ergonomics
Measuring and improving the physical experience of products — from backpacks to care robots.
Interaction design
Designing the behaviour and personality of smart, interactive products so they feel understandable and trustworthy.
Design research methods
Developing and validating structured tools that teams can adopt in early-stage design.
Education & career background
Where I've studied and worked
Experience
Sept 2021 – Present
Research Assistant & UX Researcher
Integration & Innovation Design (IID) Lab, Design Department, UNIST · Ulsan, South Korea
User research, scenario definition and translation of user scenarios into engineering specifications across robotics, military-equipment and AI-based product development projects (Lemmy companion robot, combat backpack and sleeping bag, LG food-waste disposer, Umay, AI design–production platform).
Sept 2019 – Aug 2021
Research Assistant & Interaction Designer
Interaction Design & Ergonomics Assessment Lab, Kumoh National Institute of Technology (KIT) · Gumi, South Korea
Human-factors research on AI-infused systems and adaptive interaction (NRF-funded), technology-acceptance modelling for autonomous vehicles.
Education
Feb 2022 – Present
PhD Candidate · Product & Industrial Design
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) · Ulsan, South Korea
Thesis: Scenario-Oriented Specification (SOS): A Design Method for Translating User Scenarios into Engineering Specifications for Interactive Products (tentative)
Advisor: KwanMyung Kim. Committee: Philip Cash, Kilian Gericke, James Self, Kyung-Ho Lee.
Sept 2019 – Aug 2021
M.Sc. · Industrial Engineering
Kumoh National Institute of Technology (KIT) · Gumi, South Korea
Thesis: Developing an Extended Technology Acceptance Model to Predict the Adoption of Autonomous Vehicles
Advisor: Sang-Ho Kim.
Sept 2014 – Aug 2018
B.Sc. · Automation and Control Engineering
Fergana State Technical University · Fergana, Uzbekistan
Thesis: Automation of Device Adjustment for Enhancing the Energy Efficiency of Frequency Converters (graduation project)
Skills & expertise
What I bring to a team
- Research & methods
- User research
- Interviews & focus groups
- Contextual inquiry
- User scenarios & personas
- Scenario-to-specification
- Requirements engineering
- Co-design & expert workshops
- Usability testing
- Within-subjects user studies
- Surveys & SEM (PLS-SEM)
- Technology acceptance modeling (TAM)
- Systematic reviews (PRISMA)
- Human factors & ergonomics
- Anthropometrics
- Design & engineering
- Product design
- Form & size development
- CAD modeling & engineering drawings
- Prototyping & 3D printing
- Sensor testing & component layout
- Interaction design
- Robot personality & voice expression
- CMF & product form evaluation
- UI design
- Human-in-the-loop AI tools
- LLM integration (OpenAI, Anthropic)
- Web prototyping
- Software & tools
- SolidWorks
- KeyShot
- Figma
- Miro
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Lightroom
- Procreate
- Python
- SmartPLS
- HTML / CSS / JavaScript
- Languages
- Uzbek· Native
- English· Full professional
- Korean· Limited working
- Russian· Limited working
Curriculum vitae
Download my CV
The complete résumé with publications, projects, patents, teaching and service.