Woo-Duk Chung (; born 1980) is a South Korean inventor. He is known for developing a wearable computer and a smartphone application software for accessing electricity market information.
Early life Childhood He became familiar with computers in the second grade of elementary school, and graduated the elementary school in Canada. During high school years, he set up a one-person venture company and developed a software that enabled switching between operating systems.
University In September 2001, while being an undergraduate student of the Seoul National University, he developed a wearable computer that could easily be used in mobility and introduced it to the general public. This was intended to overcome the cumbersome aspects of the laptops and the low performance of the PDAs. Then in the 2002-2003 period, he worked on building a tablet computer. In the following years, he studied electricity market at the graduate school of the same university.
Career Korea Power Exchange While participating in the development of the Korean Energy Management System (K-EMS) as a researcher, he developed a free iPhone application in September 2010 that enabled the users to browse various information related to the electricity market, such as the status of real-time electricity supply and demand, transmission and distribution network information, wholesale electricity market price, introduction of the K-EMS, and 10 years' worth of historical grid operation data. It was the first of its kind in South Korea, and the general public could easily check to see if the overall electricity supply was dwindling. He then participated in the designing of the Future Electricity Market Operating System. After being promoted to the senior manager role, he became responsible for the international affairs of the company, working with organizations such as the World Bank, and also dealt with smart grid policies.
Electric vehicles With the experience of driving a Chevrolet Bolt EV since 2018 at hand, he has been active in EV-themed online communities and published a thesis on analyzing the car's battery degradation trends using the accumulated driving data. He has shared EV related information via various outlets, such as building upon the answers and shared information provided to the said communities to publish a reference book and writing a series of opinion columns at a news outlet.
Wearable computer Features CPU, RAM, and OS used in the system are all desktop computer parts to preserve the performance characteristics as much as possible, but a miniature form factor industrial motherboard was used in order to enhance portability. A self-designed power supply unit let the system use conventional batteries. Total cost to build was approximately KRW 2 to 2.5 million (US$1,740 to 2,170). It was able to run Microsoft Office, display TV broadcast, and play 3D video games such as Quake III Arena and Max Payne. It could also connect to Internet wirelessly via mobile phone.
+Wearable Computer SpecificationsItemTypeCPUIntel Pentium III 933 MHz (Underclocked to 700 MHz)DRAMKingmax PC133 SDRAM 256MBMotherboardMaxan Systems MSC-740BLCD PanelLG-Philips 6.4-inchBatteryNexen Electronics MobiPower 19VHard DiskFujitsu 2.5-inch for Notebooks, 20GBKeyboardMatias Half Keyboard
Showcases YearNetworkShow Name 2002MBCWeb2NightKBSNews PlazaSBSWhat on Earth!E ChannelEarly Adopter 2020SBSWhat on Earth! 2021tvNYou Quiz on the Block 2022YTN ScienceDocu S Prime
TV & radio appearances YearNetworkShow Name2005 SBSSBS Special2008Live Today2022TBS FMMobility Talk Show2023TV ChosunNews 9SBSMorning Wide Part 3
Awards and nominations YearOrganizationEventAwardRemarks 2018World Bank GroupKorea Green Innovation Days KGGTF Green Connector AwardMOTIE13th Electricity Market WorkshopMinisterial Commendation 2024ISGAN15th Clean Energy MinisterialWinner, ISGAN Award of ExcellenceAs DelegateKEVUA1st Annual Jeonjinsa AwardsEV Info Sharing Award
Literary works
Books YearPublisherTitleRemarks1999YoungJin.comHardware Mook Vol. 2Co-Author2000InfoPub GroupInternet Homepage Build Guide For BeginnersCo-Author2002YoungJin.comRelearning PC: HowPC SpecialCo-Author2021Nexus BooksElectric Car: Common Sense Dictionary
Contributions Year(s)PublisherTitleSection2009Korea Power ExchangeOverseas Electrical Industry Trends2018, 2020 - 2023Korea Electric AssociationElectricity AlmanacVolume 5, Chapter 12021 - 2022DailyCarColumns by Woo-Duk Chung
References