• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.285-292
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• 2023

Small-scale ground mobile robots can access confined spaces where people or larger robots are unable. As the scale of the robot decreases, the relative size of the environment increases; therefore, maintaining the mobility of the small-scale robot is required. However, small-scale robots have limitations in using a large number of high-performance actuators, powerful computational devices, and a power source. Insects can effectively navigate various terrains in nature with their legged motion. Discrete contact with the ground and the foot enables creatures to traverse irregular surfaces. Inspired by the leg motion of the insect, researchers have developed small-scale robots and they implemented swing and lifting motions of the leg by designing leg linkages that can be adapted to small-scale robots. In this paper, we propose a leg linkage design for insect-inspired small-scale ground mobile robots. To use minimal actuation and reduce the control complexity, we designed a 1-DOF 3-dimensional leg linkage that can generate a proper leg trajectory using one continuous rotational input. We analyzed the kinematics of the proposed leg linkage to investigate the effect of link parameters on the foot trajectory.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.270-277
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• 2019

Inspired by small insects, which perform rapid and stable locomotion based on body softness and tripod gait, various milli-scale six-legged crawling robots were developed to move rapidly in harsh environment. In particular, cockroach's leg compliance was resembled to enhance the locomotion performance of the crawling robots. In this paper, we investigated the effects of changing leg compliance for the locomotion performance of the small light weight legged crawling robot under various payload condition. First, we developed robust milli-scale six-leg crawling robot which actuated by one motor and fabricated in SCM method with light and soft material. Using this robot platform, we measured the running velocity of the robot depending on the leg stiffness and payload. In result, there was optimal range of the leg stiffness enhancing the locomotion ability at each payload condition in the experiment. It suggests that the performance of the crawling robot can be improved by adjusting stiffness of the legs in given payload condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.9-18
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• 2022

As the COVID-19 continues, the demand for robotic technology that can be applied in face-to-face tasks such as delivery and transportation, is increasing. Although these technologies have been developed and applied in various industries, the robots can only be operated in a tidy indoor environment and have limitations in terms of payload. To overcome these problems, we developed a 2 degree of freedom(DOF) environmental adaptive robot leg with a double 1-DOF counterbalance mechanism (CBM) based on wire roller. The double 1-DOF CBM is applied to the two revolute joints of the proposed robot leg to compensate for the weight of the mobile robot platform and part of the payload. In addition, the link of the robot leg is designed in a parallelogram structure based on a belt pulley to enable efficient control of the mobile platform. In this study, we propose the principle and structure of the CBM that is suitable for the robot leg, and design of the counterbalance robot leg module for the environment-adaptive control. Further, we verify the performance of the proposed counterbalance robot leg by using dynamic simulations and experiments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.377-378
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• 2009

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2014

This paper describes the design concept of a bio-inspired legged underwater and estimating its performance by implementing simulations. Especially the leg structure of an underwater organism, diving beetles, is fully adopted to our designing to employ its efficiency for swimming. To make it possible for the robot to both walk and swim, the transformable kinematic model according to applications of the leg is proposed. To aid in the robot development and estimate swimming performance of the robot in advance, an underwater simulator has been constructed and an approximated model based on the developing robot was set up in the simulation. Furthermore, previous work that we have done, the swimming locomotion produced by a swimming patten generator based on the control parameters, is briefly mentioned in the paper and adopted to the simulation for extensive studies such as path planning and control techniques. Through the results, we established the strategy of leg joints which make the robot swim in the three dimensional space to reach effective controls.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.323-329
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• 2020

This paper presents a control algorithm for a wearable walking aid robot for subjects with paraplegia after stroke. After a stroke, a slow, asymmetrical and unstable gait pattern is observed in a number of patients. In many cases, one leg can move in a relatively normal pattern, while the other leg is dysfunctional due to paralysis. We have adopted the so-called assist-as-needed control that encourages the patient to walk as much as possible while the robot assists as necessary to create the gait motion of the paralyzed leg. A virtual wall was implemented for the assist-as-needed control. A position based admittance controller was applied in the swing phase to follow human intentions for both the normal and paralyzed legs. A position controller was applied in the stance phase for both legs. A power controller was applied to obtain stable performance in that the output power of the system was delimited during the sample interval. In order to verify the proposed control algorithm, we performed a simulation with 1-DOF leg models. The preliminary results have shown that the control algorithm can follow human intentions during the swing phase by providing as much assistance as needed. In addition, the virtual wall effectively guided the paralyzed leg with stable force display.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.353-359
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• 2017

This paper describes the design and manufacture of a ankle two-axis force sensor of a walking assist robot for hemiplegic leg patient. The walking assist robot for the hemiplegic leg patient can safely control the robot by detecting whether the foot wearing the walking assist robot is in contact with the obstacle or not. To do so, a two-axis force sensor should be attached to the robot's ankle. The sensor is used to measure the force of a patient's ankle lower part. The two-axis force sensor is composed of a Fx force sensor, a Fy force sensor and a pulley, and they detect the x and y direction forces, respectively. The two-axis force sensor was designed using by FEM(Finite Element Method), and manufactured using by strain-gages. The characteristics experiment of the two-axis force sensor was carried out respectively. The test results indicated that the interference error of the two-axis force sensor was less than 1.2%, the repeatability error and the non-linearity of the two-axis force sensor was less than 0.04% respectively. Therefore, the fabricated two-axis force sensor can be used to measure the force of ankle lower part in the walking assist robot.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2018

A small and lightweight crawling robots have been actively studied thanks to their outstanding mobility and maneuverability. Those robots can navigate into more confined spaces that larger robots are unable to reach or enter such as debris and caves. In this paper, we propose a milli-scale hexapedal robot based on planar linkage design. To make this possible, two necessary conditions for successful crawling are satisfied: thrust force from the ground and aerial phase while running. These conditions are achieved through a newly developed leg design. The robot has a pair of legs and each leg has three feet. Those feet alternatively moves based on 1DOF planar linkage. This linkage is installed at each side of the robot and finally the robot shows the alternating gait and aerial phase during running. As a result, the robot runs with the crawling speed of 0.9 m/s.

• Advances in robotics research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.101-126
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• 2014

In this article we present modular neural control for a leg-wheel hybrid robot consisting of three legs with omnidirectional wheels. This neural control has four main modules having their functional origin in biological neural systems. A minimal recurrent control (MRC) module is for sensory signal processing and state memorization. Its outputs drive two front wheels while the rear wheel is controlled through a velocity regulating network (VRN) module. In parallel, a neural oscillator network module serves as a central pattern generator (CPG) controls leg movements for sidestepping. Stepping directions are achieved by a phase switching network (PSN) module. The combination of these modules generates various locomotion patterns and a reactive obstacle avoidance behavior. The behavior is driven by sensor inputs, to which additional neural preprocessing networks are applied. The complete neural circuitry is developed and tested using a physics simulation environment. This study verifies that the neural modules can serve a general purpose regardless of the robot's specific embodiment. We also believe that our neural modules can be important components for locomotion generation in other complex robotic systems or they can serve as useful modules for other module-based neural control applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.125-134
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• 2009

This paper presents details on a tube inspection robotic system and a positioning method of the robot for a steam generator (SG) in nuclear power plants (NPPs). The robotic system is separated into three parts for easy handling, which reduces the radiation exposure during installation. The system has a supporting leg to increase the rigidity of the robot base. Since there are several thousands of tubes to be inspected inside a SG, it is very important to position the tool of the robot at the right tubes even if the robot base is positioned inaccurately during the installation. In order to obtain absolute accuracy of a position, the robot kinematics was mathematically modeled with the modified DH(Denavit-Hartenberg) model and calibrated on site using tube holes as calibration points. To tune the PID gains of a commercial motor driver systematically, the time delay control (TDC) based gain tuning method was adopted. To verify the performance of the robotic system, experiments on a Framatomes 51B Model type SG mockup were undertaken.