This technology is an autonomous cleaning robot that vacuums leaves and debris through an intake at the front of the main body. Inside the housing, multiple impellers arranged around a rotating shaft create a vacuum to move the collected material into a collection bag. The front ends of the impellers feature serrated shredding components that break down the leaves and debris as they are drawn in.
Cleaning up fallen leaves from street trees after autumn has traditionally relied on manual labor, requiring significant time and effort while placing a heavy physical and mental burden on workers. Existing leaf-cleaning vehicles equipped with vacuums and storage bins only collect the leaves without reducing their volume, leading to ongoing inefficiencies and high costs during post-processing.
This technology features a sensor unit that measures the distance between the intake and the ground. A first connecting bar hinged to the top of the intake and a second connecting bar driven by a rotating actuator on the main body adjust the intake height, maintaining a consistent gap and level suction surface even on uneven terrain. The intake and suction unit are connected via a flexible joint. A sensor detects the amount of material in the collection bag, and an air intake/exhaust controller adjusts the volume of the air bladder to change the bag's capacity. Suitable for tree-lined streets, park paths, university campuses, and apartment walkways, this robot reduces the need for manual labor during leaf season and shreds material during a single pass, allowing for higher storage capacity and fewer trips to empty the bin.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education through Chungnam National University.
This technology is an electrochemical concrete surface treatment method that inhibits the leaching of alkali ions. It involves installing a titanium mesh plate as an anode on the surface of reinforced concrete, using the internal rebar as a cathode, and applying an electric current to form a calcium hydroxide film between the concrete surface and the plate.
Concrete is highly alkaline (pH ~12.5) due to calcium hydroxide produced during hydration, causing alkali ions like hydroxide to leach when in contact with water. Conventional methods, such as surface painting or membrane coating, suffer from reduced bond strength when submerged for long periods and increased leaching at localized cracks caused by wave action, which negatively impacts the ecosystem. Natural carbonation is difficult to control as its rate and depth vary with indoor/outdoor conditions and sunlight. Electrochemical treatments for rebar corrosion have limitations, as they cause hydrogen gas generation and hydroxide ion dissociation around the rebar.
This technology uses an electrolyte chamber member that covers the concrete surface over the anode, filled with a lithium borate electrolyte solution to enhance electrical mobility between the anode and cathode, with the edges sealed to prevent leakage. The control phase manages current, voltage, and duration, supplying 250–1000mA and 5–20V for four weeks. Concrete structures treated with this method are also included in the scope of the patent. Applicable to river/coastal revetments, underwater structures, water intake/purification facilities, fishways, and waterfront concrete, it modifies the concrete surface layer itself rather than relying on a coating that can peel off, thereby reducing alkali leaching into the aquatic ecosystem.
This technology is a concrete block for revetments featuring a hexagonal concrete frame with open top and bottom, drainage slits on the sides, and an interior divided by equilateral triangular embankments filled with a porous, permeable bio-material made of plant-based polyurethane. Multiple frames are connected like a honeycomb to be installed as a cluster.
Conventional methods of installing blocks side-by-side on coastal, levee, or reservoir revetments and cut-and-fill slopes were prone to differential settlement and partial detachment due to a lack of integration between blocks. Furthermore, standard concrete hindered vegetation, damaging the landscape and ecosystem. Rainwater and seawater could not permeate, increasing runoff during the rainy season and accelerating erosion. Existing vegetated perforated blocks also suffered from weak inter-block bonding, leading to lateral displacement, settlement, and poor workability due to their heavy weight.
This technology reinforces the interior by arranging equilateral triangular embankments so that their three vertices meet at a single point in the center of the frame. The entire cluster is unified by inserting first interlocking blocks into the angular spaces created where two frames meet, and second interlocking blocks where three frames meet. These interlocking blocks are also open at the top and bottom, ensuring continuous drainage. Suitable for coastal industrial zone revetments, river levees, reservoir slopes, and road embankments behind beaches, this system allows water to pass through even in areas with frequent wave run-up and overtopping, while keeping the block cluster intact to prevent erosion and soil loss.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education for the development of eco-friendly permeable bio-concrete blocks.
This technology is an automated lane marking system that identifies lane conditions using cameras mounted at the front and near the ground of an unmanned vehicle, determines the vehicle's position, moves the vehicle to the marking location based on analysis, and applies paint via internal nozzles.
Lane markings are essential for guiding drivers, requiring periodic repainting. Traditionally, this relied on manual steering or operators driving vehicles to align positions. Because external workers had to monitor the process to ensure accuracy, they were exposed to safety risks, and the process was labor-intensive.
This technology uses a front-facing camera for site monitoring, while side-mounted cameras capture road surfaces and wear levels. After filtering for color and brightness, it extracts lanes using iterative Hough transforms and RANSAC, correcting steering based on the vanishing point of parallel lanes. New markings are plotted using road blueprints and 3D maps. Surface defects are identified via contrast analysis, and line defects via scratch detection algorithms. Cracks are cleaned with a built-in vacuum before molten paint is injected. Applicable to highways, new roads, airport runways, and parking lots, it eliminates the need for flaggers and monitors, reduces lane closure times, and enables precise repainting of only worn sections.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education's Capstone Design program.
This technology is a road anti-icing system that installs multiple carbon nanotube heating lines across the direction of vehicle travel in specific road sections, with a heating management unit that supplies current to generate heat when the road surface temperature drops below a set threshold.
Black ice, which is difficult to detect, often forms at tunnel entrances or sharp mountain curves that remain in the shade for long periods, serving as a major cause of accidents. Traditional methods of manually spreading sand or calcium chloride are labor-intensive and slow to respond. Existing anti-icing systems also have limitations, as they require removing pavement and re-pouring concrete to embed bulky heating elements, leading to high installation costs and long construction times.
This technology features heating lines that alternate between wide first sections and narrow second sections. By placing the second sections in the wheel path, the increased resistance causes those areas to generate more heat. The heating elements are created by applying a coating containing 0.75–5.0 wt.% multi-walled carbon nanotubes dispersed in an acetone-epoxy solvent. These are placed inside rumble strip grooves to protect them from tire wear, and the lines are connected in parallel to a pair of longitudinal extension electrodes. The system also includes a power supply unit that detects errors if resistance exceeds the average value during operation. It can be applied to shaded tunnel entrances, sharp mountain curves, bridge decks, and highway ramps, allowing for installation via coating rather than pavement removal, while focusing ice-melting efforts specifically on the wheel tracks where tires make contact.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the development of an active black ice detection and removal system based on carbon nanotube road coatings.
본 기술은 테트라포드 같은 소파블록을 위에 올려 두는 해저면과 수평한 소파블록거치부와, 그 앞쪽 끝에서 수직으로 솟아 블록이 바다 쪽으로 밀려 나가지 않게 막는 돌출부로 이루어진 유실방지 구조물입니다. 거치부에는 통공을 뚫어 아래에서 밀어 올리는 양압력이 걸리지 않도록 했습니다.
방파제와 호안 주변에 쌓는 테트라포드는 평상시 파랑에는 잘 견디지만, 태풍처럼 강한 바람이 만든 큰 파도가 덮치면 흩어져 떠내려가거나 깨져 제 기능을 못하는 문제가 있었습니다. 지진이나 태풍으로 파고가 높아져 처음 설계한 파고를 넘는 파도가 들이치는 경우 테트라포드 유실을 막을 수단이 마땅치 않은 한계가 있었습니다.
본 기술은 양 측면에 함입부를 가진 제1블럭과 돌출부를 가진 제2블럭을 번갈아 맞물려 길게 이어 붙이고, 맞물림 사이에는 탄력 있는 완충블럭을 끼워 블럭끼리 부딪쳐 깨지는 것을 막도록 구성됩니다. 거치부와 돌출부가 이루는 각도에 따라 직각·예각·둔각 블럭을 준비해 평탄한 해저에는 직각, 호안 쪽으로 기운 해저에는 둔각, 반대로 기운 해저에는 예각 블럭을 놓아 돌출부가 언제나 해수면과 직각을 이루게 하며, 거치부 바닥의 돌기형 마찰력상승부가 미끄러짐을 줄입니다. 항만 방파제 피복부, 해안 호안 보강공사, 태풍 피해가 잦은 어항 외곽시설에 적용될 수 있어 설계파고를 넘는 너울이 와도 테트라포드가 기초 위에 붙들려 있어 재설치 비용과 배후 시설 피해를 줄일 수 있습니다.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education's Capstone Design program.
This technology is a method for manufacturing an exothermic absorbent pad by soaking the pad in a mixture of distilled water and calcium carbonate, then adding hydrochloric acid to generate calcium chloride directly inside the pad. When the resulting pad comes into contact with water, the calcium chloride reacts to generate heat.
Using absorbent pads is the most common method for cleaning up oil spills in oceans and rivers. However, low-sulfur fuel oil, which has seen increased use due to International Maritime Organization regulations, has a high pour point of 20°C, causing it to solidify and drastically reduce the efficiency of absorbent pads when water temperatures drop below this level. Since the average winter seawater temperature in Korea is about 10°C, absorbent pads often fail to function effectively during winter spills.
This technology involves mixing calcium carbonate and distilled water in a 1:1 weight ratio, soaking the absorbent pad while stirring to ensure even distribution of calcium carbonate, adding hydrochloric acid at twice the weight of the calcium carbonate to trigger a reaction, and then drying and sealing the product. Because the calcium chloride is generated within the fibers rather than being coated on the surface, the components are distributed uniformly. This can be applied to low-sulfur oil spill response in winter, oil recovery in cold rivers near ports and refineries, and emergency spill kits for ship engine rooms, allowing the pad to warm the surrounding oil in cold water, restore its flow, and maintain absorption capacity.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education's Capstone Design program.
This technology is a steel damper that absorbs building vibrations through the elastic and plastic deformation of steel plates when horizontal force is applied between a first fixing plate connected to the upper part of a building and a second fixing plate connected to the lower part. The second and third steel plates are arranged in parallel at intervals in front of and behind the central first steel plate.
Conventional steel dampers face a trade-off where increasing stiffness and strength reduces ductility, and vice versa, necessitating uneconomically large steel plates to achieve both. Such large dampers are sometimes impossible to install due to site constraints, and prior technologies like buckling-restrained dampers have limitations in efficiently absorbing vibrations by failing to provide both stiffness and ductility simultaneously.
This technology uses 280mm wide, 135mm long, and 18mm thick first and second steel components as the top and bottom, connected by support sections. The central first steel plate is designed for stiffness with a 59mm wide support, while the front and rear plates are designed for ductility with 30mm wide supports, allowing plates with different properties to operate in parallel. The support length and thickness are standardized at 220mm and 18mm for simple manufacturing. It can be applied to inter-story vibration control in high-rise mixed-use and office buildings, seismic retrofitting for schools and public offices, and reinforcement for pilotis-structured housing. It remains rigid during minor earthquakes and dissipates energy by stretching over a wide range during major ones, all while remaining compact enough for tight installation spaces.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education's LINC 3.0 project.
This technology features a soundproof tunnel fire suppression system that uses gutters sloped toward the center to collect rainwater into a storage tank via collection pipes. When the roof-mounted spray system detects a fire, a control module manages the tank water levels and directs the spray to extinguish the flames.
While soundproof tunnels are effective at blocking traffic noise for high-rise urban residential areas, the commonly used PMMA material is lighter and cheaper than tempered glass but highly flammable. Existing technologies that recycle rainwater for firefighting lack systems to manage stored water or prevent fire from spreading to combustible sound panels, posing a significant risk of fire escalation.
This technology uses a separator in a Y-shaped pipe to divert rainwater once the tank is full, and automatically flushes stagnant water after a month of storage to replace it with fresh rain. Thermal imaging is divided into a grid to identify road and sound barrier zones; if a fire is detected, the system prioritizes spraying the adjacent sound barriers to create a firebreak. A rotating filter on the gutter drain clears debris when its weight exceeds a threshold, and the system detects clogs by comparing tank levels with actual rainfall. Applicable to urban highway tunnels, bridge sound barriers near apartments, and railway tunnels, this system enables initial response using rainwater without a dedicated water supply, wetting fire spread paths before flames reach combustible panels.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's project for developing technologies to reduce road surface hazards that cause traffic accidents.
This technology is a canal repair and construction method that covers the entire inner surface of a canal, including joints between canal blocks, with a perforated elastic fabric member, then applies and cures a polymer mortar composition to bond the canal surface, fabric, and mortar into a single layer.
Concrete canals often develop gaps and cracks at block joints over time, leading to leaks and requiring costly periodic repairs. Conventional methods, such as filling joints with mortar or sealant or attaching joints and brackets, often fail because the materials freeze and crack during winter or break off due to freeze-thaw cycles, making repairs non-permanent.
This technology uses two types of silica sand with average particle sizes of 0.15–0.3mm and 0.05–0.14mm, both smaller than the fabric perforations, allowing part of the mortar to penetrate through the fabric to the canal surface. It incorporates a polymer blend with glass transition temperatures of -60 to 10°C and 10 to 60°C (16.5–24.5 wt% each) and 0.8–1.2 wt% fumed silica. A 2–30mm thick elastic non-woven fabric is stretched tightly across the inner side walls, floor, and top, and can be finished with a UV-protective coating after curing. Applicable to agricultural irrigation canals, roadside drainage, and aging concrete U-shaped canals, it prevents joint rupture during freeze-thaw cycles and increases flow capacity by smoothing the interior.
This technology is an integrated location tracking and monitoring mechanism that tracks the positions of sensors worn by guardians and children via a sensor network composed of multiple relay sensors. A management server monitors the distance between them in real-time, and in the event of a child going missing, a safety robot is dispatched along the shortest path to the child's location to collect and transmit video and audio data.
Existing GPS-based technologies are unable to track locations in signal-shadowed areas such as indoors or underground, while RFID-based technologies have limitations due to short transmission ranges, requiring the dense installation of numerous readers and resulting in high physical infrastructure costs.
This technology works by having a group of relay sensors receive signals from sensors held by the guardian and the child, which are then transmitted to a management server that calculates their positions and measures the distance between them. If a child goes missing, the management server calculates the shortest path for a safety robot and issues a movement command, allowing the robot to arrive on-site to capture and transmit video and audio data. Applicable to logistics, service robots, and autonomous driving platforms, this system improves the efficiency and accuracy of child safety by providing real-time location tracking and early detection of potential missing child scenarios.
This technology is an autonomous driving path planning method that divides image space into cells to calculate the density of static and dynamic obstacles. It then performs hierarchical/non-hierarchical clustering and applies a genetic algorithm (GA) to generate obstacle-avoidance paths.
Existing genetic algorithm-based path planning focuses solely on finding the shortest path, leading to increased computational load as workspace size grows. Furthermore, it fails to adequately account for dynamic obstacle information, resulting in persistent collision risks during movement.
This technology converts images into grayscale occupancy (static) and brightness information (dynamic) to calculate density. It then reduces data complexity through k-means clustering and derives an optimal path by applying a genetic algorithm that integrates obstacle density, path distance, and penalties for infeasible paths into the fitness function. This improves routing performance by accounting for workspace size and dynamic obstacle information, making it suitable for applications in rehabilitation training, gait assistance, and medical/welfare services.
This technology is a building double-skin system featuring a supply double-skin section with an intake cavity for outdoor air and an exhaust double-skin section with an exhaust cavity for indoor air. A control unit manages the outdoor air regulators, indoor air regulators, and ventilation fans in each section according to the selected operating mode.
Conventional double-skin facades installed across multiple floors enhance buoyancy-driven airflow but are difficult to operate independently for each office. Conversely, single-floor installations allow for individual control but suffer from reduced performance due to lower floor heights, which weaken air circulation. Furthermore, these systems struggle to address varying internal heat loads or occupant temperature preferences at the facade level.
This technology divides the intake cavity into upper and lower sections using a partition with a controllable opening. In natural ventilation or cooling modes, the opening closes to circulate intake air through an outdoor vent. In preheating or heating modes, the opening stays open and the vent closes, allowing air to be warmed as it passes through both sections before entering the room. A sliding mechanism on the lower plate allows for height adjustment, with air inlets placed at the bottom and outlets at the top of the floor. Applicable to curtain walls in high-rise offices, green remodeling for public buildings or schools, and multi-tenant office facilities, this system enables per-room ventilation and heating control while achieving the air circulation efficiency of multi-story double skins, significantly reducing exposure to extreme thermal conditions.
This invention was developed with support from the Plus Energy Building Innovation Technology Research Center of the Ministry of Science and ICT.
This technology is a power supply system that connects a power line to a moving sliding member, such as in a sliding smart window. It uses two fixed rotation axes and one movable rotation axis to guide the line, ensuring uninterrupted power delivery regardless of whether the window is opening or closing.
Smart windows using electrochromic devices change color and transparency via electrical current, allowing for sunlight control and energy savings in buildings and vehicles. However, existing technologies typically only allow for easy power connection when the window is closed, creating difficulties in maintaining power supply while the window is in motion.
When the sliding member moves away from the fixed rotation axes, the movable rotation axis shifts toward them to release line length; when it moves closer, the restoring force of an elastic member pulls the movable axis back to retract the slack. This restoring force is set to be less than the weight of the sliding member. Inside the line fixing member, the power line wraps around a support in a U-shape and is secured by a pin, keeping the length of the line beyond the pin constant regardless of movement. Applicable to sliding windows in buildings, vehicle sliding windows, and retrofit smart window kits, this system enables color control even when the window is partially open and reduces wire fatigue from repeated opening and closing.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the development of core technology for high-strength electrochromic laminated glass based on UV-curable polymer chemical resin electrolytes.
This technology is a steel pipe jacking and excavation method that horizontally excavates ground using an auger screw while pushing in a steel pipe casing. It then injects liquid nitrogen through the hollow rotating shaft of the auger to rapidly freeze the ground in front of the excavation face, allowing for the subsequent excavation of the frozen ground and further casing insertion.
When buildings, subways, or tunnels collapse in urban areas, creating a safe passage for evacuation and supplies is critical. However, horizontal excavation often loosens surrounding soil and causes water leaks, leading to hydraulic and mechanical instability. Furthermore, depending on soil and groundwater conditions, there is a high risk of tunnel face collapse, often requiring additional ground reinforcement at the jacking and receiving pits.
This technology features a movable pipe inside the hollow rotating shaft that carries liquid nitrogen. During the freezing phase, this pipe extends out through a discharge hole to freeze the tunnel face, then retracts back into the shaft before the next excavation cycle. A blocking member inside the front of the shaft rotates with the pipe to selectively seal the discharge hole, while the rotating pipe includes a passage that insulates the hollow shaft from the movable pipe. Applicable for rescue passages in collapse zones, trenchless urban utility installation, and steel pipe jacking in soft or high-groundwater soils, it instantly blocks groundwater and stabilizes the surrounding ground, enabling the creation of rescue passages without further collapse.
