• 재활복지
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.191-216
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• 2017

Recently, according to demands for a mobility right of people with disabilities, the use of powered mobility device has been rapidly increased and recharging facilities have been set up in many places of country. But the standards for the installation and management of the facilities are not clear and many problems are brought up in operating the facilities. Therefore, regulations and realities of recharging facilities were investigated and the user survey was progressed. On the basis of the research results, a rational and efficient installation and management plan was drawn up. The plan suggests that the recharging facilities should be installed in a building managed by government and many kinds of public building like library, theater, sports facilities, department store, museum, etc. Further, the recharging facilities should secure independent place which have specified area for protecting of privacy and provide some amenities for people with disabilities to enhance the conveniences.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.471-478
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• 2004

Electromyogram (EMC) signal generated by voluntary contraction of muscles is often used in a rehabilitation devices such as an upper limb prosthesis because of its distinct output characteristics compared to other bio-signals. This paper proposes an EMG-based human-computer interface (HCI) for the control of the above-elbow prosthesis or the wheelchair. To control such rehabilitation devices, user generates four commands by combining voluntary contraction of two different muscles such as levator scapulae muscles and flexor-extensor carpi ulnaris muscles. The muscle contraction is detected by comparing the mean absolute value of the EMG signal with a preset threshold value. However. since the time difference in muscle firing can occur when the patient tries simultaneous co-contraction of two muscles, it is difficult to determine whether the patient's intention is co-contraction. Hence, the use of the comparison method using a single threshold value is not feasible for recognizing such co-contraction motion. Here, we propose a novel method using double threshold values composed of a primary threshold and an auxiliary threshold. Using the double threshold method, the co-contraction state is easily detected, and diverse interface commands can be used for the EMG-based HCI. The experimental results with real-time EMG processing showed that the double threshold method is feasible for the EMG-based HCI to control the myoelectric prosthetic hand and the powered wheelchair.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 2004

This study shows the result of the survey conducted for male adults who had to use wheelchairs. The objectives of this study are to develop and improve the clothes for the disabled people and to make those garments put into practice. For this purpose, the survey was conducted at first so as to understand the situation of the disabled peoples wearing clothes and the garment demands. This survey is to suggest the suited form of the pants they want. The result of the study is as follows. 1) The average age of the subjects was 38.4 years old. They have used wheelchairs for 12 years on the average. Most subjects two limbs were paralyzed because of the acquired spinal paralysis. 60 percent of them were wearing the urine bags all the time. The average size of the pants they purchased was 39 inches, which means that their waist and abdominal circumstance were very big. 2) Regarding the situation of wearing habits, although the subjects usually purchased ready-to-wear, most of them are very dissatisfied with them. Especially, they considered the size as their main dissatisfaction. The main concern for buying garments was how comfortable and mobile they are while wearing them. They also needed outdoor garments. Lastly, they looked forward to the shop specialized in the garments for disabled people. 3) The functional pants for adult men using wheelchairs had the same zipper as that of general pants. The waist belt was made of rubber to reduce the pressure on waist and to cover 2 inches (5 cm) of waist circumference. Also it should be made to secure each button within the belt in accordance with size. Finally, it was designed as formal wrinkled pants that had pockets within the reach of hands when the disabled used wheelchairs.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.681-686
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• 2010

Although the height of a ramp is an important design element, it has not been considered in prior studies. Therefore, in this study, the ramp slope and height are considered as independent variables. To analyze the effects of the slope and height, five levels of slope (1:6, 1:8, 1:10, 1:12 and 1:14) and three levels of height (15cm, 30cm and 45cm) are considered. For the dependent variables, the total time, velocity and perceived discomfort were considered as usability measures, pulse rate changes and EMG signals of four related muscles (extensor carpi radialis, triceps brachii, anterior deltoid and posterior deltoid) were considered as physiology measures. As a result, differences among usability and physiological characteristic for the five slopes increased as the height increased. Additionally, slope effects were minor when the height was low (15cm). Almost domestic/international regulations and guidelines related to ramp recommended 1:12 slope for the ramp design, however, there was no significant difference between 1:10 and 1:12 according to result of this study. In addition, slope effects were minor at a low height; thus, a slope of 1:8 can be recommended if the installation space for a gentler ramp is not sufficient.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.54-61
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• 2018

Objective: The current study aimed to investigate the accessibility and usability of the disabled person while using the everyday facility. Background: The national laws regulated accommodation of persons with disabilities, but our knowledge on the practical usefulness of the laws and acceptance by the users is still far from complete. Method: Compliance with laws was checked throughout the actual measurement of 87 engineering designs in the facilities of a national university, and the practical usability of the facilities was investigated by in-depth interviews with eight disabled persons. New design solutions were developed by the anthropometric methodology for better accommodation. The target-specific anthropometry database such as sitting knee height with wheelchair was employed. Results: First, the statistic showed that 28.7% of facility designs comply with the law, 29.9% of facility designs doesn't comply with the law, and 41.4% of facility designs doesn't have related law or regulation. Second, the law of table height(71cm in current) can accommodate only 49.3% of wheelchaired population. The following test for 95% accommodation revealed that the table with 80cm high is required. Third, the current law in the door width(90cm) can only accommodate 82.6% of disabled persons, so the new design solution was calculated and suggested that 100cm in the door width is necessary for 99% accommodation of disabled persons. Conclusion: Even with the laws and regulations for the disabilities it was clear that the accessibility and usability of the disabled persons in everyday facilities was still limited. An investigation for the new solutions about a wide range of facilities is necessary for better practical accessibility and usability of the handicapped persons. Application: The results of current study can be a basement of developing a new guideline or regulation of the facility design for the disabled persons.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.362-370
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• 2021

In this paper, we propose the Autonomous Stair-climbing system based on data from ToF sensors and IMU in developing stair-climbing robots to passive wheelchair users. Autonomous stair-climbing system are controlled by separating the timing of landing gear operation by location and utilizing state machines. To prove the theory, we construct and experiment with standard model stairs. Through an experiment to get the Attack angle, the average error of operating landing gear was 2.19% and the average error of the Attack angle was 2.78%, and the step division and status transition of the autonomous stair-climbing system were verified. As a result, the performance of the proposed techniques will reduce constraints of transportation handicapped.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.419-427
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• 2020

This study was undertaken to address the difficulties and inconveniences of an electric wheelchair. We focused on improving usability of initially completed products by augmenting the prototypes designed in the previous study. For evaluation of usability, 10 elderly women aged over 65 years, capable of movements and physical activities in daily life, were enrolled as subjects. The experimental method included a subjective satisfaction questionnaire evaluation of the elderly women using the target product, and the observation evaluation was achieved using video recording data, etc. Usability evaluation revealed that the elevating sector requires improvement of intuition through separation of the elevating control panel and the driving control panel. Improvements in the driving sector include corrections of the front wheel mechanism or driving control algorithm, UI, and sudden stop system. Transferring section assessment revealed a necessity to secure structures and add structures that support power. We believe that based on the inconveniences and improvements presented in the usability evaluation, appending the existing prototype with complementary products will improve the quality of life of elderly women with limited mobility.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.90-95
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• 2014

The researchs using brain-computer interface, the new interface system which connect human to macine, have been maded to implement the user-assistance devices for control of wheelchairs or input the characters. In recent researches, there are several trials to implement the speech recognitions system based on the brain wave and attempt to silent communication. In this paper, we studied how to extract features of vowel based on international phonetic alphabet (IPA), as a foundation step for implementing of speech recognition system based on electroencephalogram (EEG). We conducted the 2 step experiments with three healthy male subjects, and first step was speaking imagery with single vowel and second step was imagery with successive two vowels. We selected 32 channels, which include frontal lobe related to thinking and temporal lobe related to speech function, among acquired 64 channels. Eigen value of the signal was used for feature vector and support vector machine (SVM) was used for classification. As a result of first step, we should use over than 10th order of feature vector to analyze the EEG signal of speech and if we used 11th order feature vector, the highest average classification rate was 95.63 % in classification between /a/ and /o/, the lowest average classification rate was 86.85 % with /a/ and /u/. In the second step of the experiments, we studied the difference of speech imaginary signals between single and successive two vowels.

• 재활복지
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.311-338
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• 2013

The Act of Disability Discrimination and Rights Restriction was enacted in 2008 states that all services including cultural and artistic activities should be fair and easily accessible for disabled. The aim of this study was to determine how to improve the facilities and services for the disabled in exhibition facilities and provide complementary guidelines for amenities designed for people with disabled. The conclusions identified through this study are as follows: 1) It should be installed pedestrian safe passage so that visitors could access from the entrance of the ground to inside of the exhibition facility. 2) The floor of the exhibition hall should be installed not slip, and dangerous obstacles placed in the corridor should be removed. 3) It Should be considered that visually impaired and wheelchair users are use different facilities at toilet and elevator. 4) To guide the visually impaired and hearing impaired it should be prepared palpable map, braille signage, miniature and brochures. 5) Visually impaired and hearing impaired can experience the exhibits by using a variety of senses, therefore it may need to provide assistive devices and human services.

• Journal of Platform Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.10-19
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• 2022

Moving assistant devices for people who are difficult to move are becoming electric-powered and automated. These moving assistant devices are not suitable for moving stairs at which the height between floor surfaces is different because these devices are designed and manufactured for flatland moving. An electric-powered and automated moving assistant device should change direction or stop when it approaches stairs in a movement direction. If the user or automatic control system does not change direction or stop in time, a moving assistant device can roll over or collide with stairs. In this paper, we propose a stairs detection method by using oblique distance measured by one sensor tilted to flatland. The method proposed in this paper can detect upward or downward stairs by using a difference between a predicted and measured oblique distance in considering a tilted angle of a sensor for measuring an oblique distance and installation height of the sensor on a moving object. Before the device enters a stairs region, if our proposed method provides information about detected stairs to a device's controller, the controller can do adequate action to avoid the accident.