• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.61-69
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose and examine the feasibility of the robot-assisted behavioral intervention system so as to strengthen positive response of the children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for learning social skills. Based on well-known behavioral treatment protocols, the robot offers therapeutic training elements of eye contact and emotion reading respectively in child-robot interaction, and it subsequently accomplishes pre-allocated meaningful acts by estimating the level of children's reactivity from reliable recognition modules, as a coping strategy. Furthermore, for the purpose of labor saving and attracting children's interest, we implemented the robotic stimulation configuration with semi-autonomous actions capable of inducing intimacy and tension to children in instructional trials. From these configurations, by evaluating the ability of recognizing human activity as well as by showing improved reactivity for social training, we verified that the proposed system has some positive effects on social development, targeted for preschoolers who have a high functioning level.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.496-504
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• 2023

This paper recognizes the motion intention of the wearer using a muscle stiffness sensor and proposes a control system for a wearable robot based on this. The proposed system recognizes the onset time of the motion using sensor data, determines the assistance mode, and provides assistive torque to the hip flexion/extension motion of the wearer through the generated reference trajectory according to the determined mode. The onset time of motion was detected using the CUSUM algorithm from the muscle stiffness sensor, and by comparing the detection results of the onset time with the EMG sensor and IMU, it verified its applicability as an input device for recognizing the intention of the wearer before motion. In addition, the stability of the proposed method was confirmed by comparing the results detected according to the walking speed of two subjects (1 male and 1 female). Based on these results, the assistance mode (gait assistance mode and muscle strengthening mode) was determined based on the detection results of onset time, and a reference trajectory was generated through cubic spline interpolation according to the determined assistance mode. And, the practicality of the proposed system was also confirmed by applying it to an actual wearable robot.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2009년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.989-990
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• 2009

• 재활복지공학회논문지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.171-176
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• 2016

본 연구는 옴니휠을 이용한 1인승 탑승 로봇개발을 통해 장애인 및 비장애인 탑승자의 거동특성과 안정성을 고려한 사용자의 불편요소와 개선방안을 파악하여 총 6명의 사용성 평가를 실시하였다. 본 연구 결과를 보면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 대구대학교 신애5호관 기숙사에서 실험대상자들에게 옴니휠을 이용한 1인승 로봇을 사용하여 불편요소를 파악하는데 있는 승하차의 경우 비장애인이 만족도 4점보다 장애인이 만족도 1.6점으로 가장 큰 불편함을 느꼈다. 이는 휠체어 높이보다 제품의 시트높이가 10cm 더 높아 이동하기 어려웠던 것으로 분석된다. 둘째, 1인승 로봇의 주행와 안전을 위해 장착된 시트, 등받이, 암레스트, 풋레스트, 안전벨트 등 장애인과 비장애인 모다 3점 평균이하의 각각 2.33점과 2.62점의 만족도를 보였으나, 가변형설계 및 설계디자인의 경우 장애인과 비장애인 모두 3.5점의 평균 이상 만족도를 나타내었다. 셋째, 1인승 로봇의 가격의 경우 6~7백만원으로 상당히 비싸다는 의견이 많아 정부 보조금 지원이 가능하다면 전동휠체어 대용으로 구입하겠다는 의견을 나타내었다. 따라서 장애인 사용성 평가에서 나타난 불편사항과 개선방안을 토대로 추가적인 연구개발이 이루어져 교통약자들에게 스스로 탑승 및 이동하여 간단한 일상생활 하는데 있어 삶의 질을 높일 필요성이 있다.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제33권5호
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• pp.407-422
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of the study is to develop quantitative usability evaluation criteria for senior-friendly autonomous transportation robot. Background: The Republic of Korea has become the most rapidly aging society, and is anticipated to enter the post-aged society in 2026. To raise the quality of life of a senior with limited mobility and to reduce the burden of caregivers, many high-tech assistive products with information technologies are developed nowadays. The senior-friendly autonomous transportation robot is one person robot vehicle to move a senior to the destination for hospitals, nursing homes or silver town complex. With built-in navigation system and environmental monitoring censors, it automatically seeks the path to the destination and avoids collision to obstacles and pedestrians on the way. Due to the early stage of the product, few usability studies in this field have been done, mostly on general service robots to assist seniors, power wheelchairs and delivery robots. ISO and KS standards for the service robots are focused on safety. Method: Based on the reference usability index, the early draft of the usability evaluation questionnaires was developed. After small group tests and interviews, the experts modified the initial draft to the Usability Evaluation Criteria for Senior-Friendly Autonomous Transportation Robot (UEC-SFATR). Result: UEC-SFATR consisted of 4 subscales - Safety, Controllability, Efficiency and Satisfaction. All of the 4 subscales of UEC-SFATR were passed the reliability criteria by 4 groups of seniors, divided by gender and familiarity of smart-devices. Conclusion: UEC-SFATR covers wider area of user experiences of the SFATR and is a good measurement tool to help both the users and developers of the robot. Application: This study provides guide to the future product development and product competitiveness evaluation by quantifying user experiences for the SFATR.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.197-205
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• 2013

This paper presents a robotic system that provides telepresence to the visually impaired by combining real-time haptic rendering with multi-modal interaction. A virtual-proxy based haptic rendering process using a RGB-D sensor is developed and integrated into a unified framework for control and feedback for the telepresence robot. We discuss the challenging problem of presenting environmental perception to a user with visual impairments and our solution for multi-modal interaction. We also explain the experimental design and protocols, and results with human subjects with and without visual impairments. Discussion on the performance of our system and our future goals are presented toward the end.

• 재활복지공학회논문지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.67-72
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• 2015

팔의 사용이 자유롭지 못한 장애인들을 위하여 발의 움직임 검출을 통하여 로봇 팔을 제어할 수 있는 시스템을 구현하였다. 발의 움직임에 대한 영상을 얻기 위하여 양쪽 발 앞에 두 대의 카메라를 설치하였으며, 획득된 영상에 대해 LabView 기반 Vision Assistant를 이용하여 다중 관심영역을 설정한 후, 좌/우영역내에서 검출된 좌/우, 상/하 엣지를 기반으로 발의 움직임을 검출하였다. 좌/우 두발의 영상으로부터 좌/우 엣지와 상/하 엣지 검출 수에 따라 6관절 로봇 팔을 제어할 수 있는 제어용 데이터를 시리얼 통신을 통해 전송한 후 로봇 팔을 발로 상/하, 좌/우 제어할 수 있는 시스템을 구현하였다. 실험 결과 0.5초 이내의 반응속도와 88% 이상의 동작 인식률을 얻을 수 있었다.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.478-487
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• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to analyze the effect of wearable complex muscle support system on energy efficiency during walking in elderly. Design: Cross sectional study Methods: Twenty healthy elderly participated in this study. All subjects performed a 6 minuteswalk test(6MWT) and stair climbing test in dual, slack and no suit conditions. In each condition, oxygen consumption(VO₂), metabolic equivalents(METs), energy expenditure measures(EEm), physiological cost index(PCI), walking velocity and heartrate were measured. Through repeated measured ANOVA, it was investigated whether there was a statistically significant difference in the measurement results between the three conditions. Results: In over-ground walking, VO₂, METs and EEm showed significant differences between no suit and slack conditions(p<0.05). In stair climbing, VO₂ showed significant difference between slack and dual conditions(p<0.05). Also, METs and EEm showed significant differences between no suit and slack, and between slack and dual conditions(p<0.05). Conclusions: Wearing the wearable complex muscle support system for elderly does not have much benefit in energy metabolism efficiency in over-ground, but there is a benefit in stair walking.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제35권5호
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• pp.503-515
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• 2011

보행 재활 훈련용 보행보조 로봇을 개발하고, 시제품의 운동학적 특성을 평가하였다. 이 보행보조 로봇은 고관절(hip), 슬관절(knee), 족관절(ankle) 등으로 구성되며, 각 관절은 감속기가 포함된 모터에 의해 구동된다. 인체 보행 운동을 이론적으로 해석하여, 보행 운동 중 각 관절의 각도 변위를 계산하는 식을 구하였고, 계산된 각도 변위를 로봇 구동기에 입력하였다. 트레드밀(treadmill) 위에서의 실험을 통해 다양한 보행 속도(walking speed) 및 보폭(stride)에서 각 관절의 출력 각도 변위를 측정하고 입력 값과 비교하였다. 입력 각도 변위와 출력 각도 변위의 차이가 고관절에서는 5.22%, 슬관절에서는 2.97% 이내로 일치함을 확인하여, 설계대로 보행보조 로봇이 작동함을 입증하였다.

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제16권10호
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• pp.939-947
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• 2010

With the rising numbers of elderly and disabled people, the demand for welfare services using a robotic system and not involving human effort is likewise increasing. This study deals with a mobile-robot system combined with a BWS (Body Weight Support) system for gait rehabilitation. The BWS system is designed via the kinematic analysis of the robot's body-lifting characteristics and of the walking guide system that controls the total rehabilitation system integrated in the mobile robot. This mobile platform is operated by utilizing the AGV (Autonomous Guided Vehicle) driving algorithm. Especially, the method that integrates geometric path tracking and obstacle avoidance for a nonholonomic mobile robot is applied so that the system can be operated in an area where the elderly users are expected to be situated, such as in a public hospital or a rehabilitation center. The mobile robot follows the path by moving through the turning radius supplied by the pure-pursuit method which is one of the existing geometric path-tracking methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through the real experiments those are conducted for path tracking with static- and dynamic-obstacle avoidance. Finally, through the EMG (Electromyography) signal measurement of the subject, the performance of the proposed system in a real operation condition is evaluated.