• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.155-161
• /
• 2020

Background: The consequences of falls are often debilitating, and prevention is important. In theory, the lower the center of mass (COM), the greater postural stability during standing, and a weight belt at the waist level may help to lower the COM and improve the standing balance. Objects: We examined how the limit of stability (LOS) was affected by the lowered center of mass with the weight belt. Methods: Twenty healthy individuals participated in the LOS test. After calculating each participant's COM, a weight belt was fastened ten centimeters below the COM. Trials were acquired with five weight belt conditions: 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% of body weight. Outcome measures included reaction time, movement velocity, endpoint excursion, maximum excursion, and directional control in 4 cardinal moving directions. Results: None of our outcome variables were associated with a weight belt (p > 0.075), but all of them were associated with moving direction (p < 0.01). On average, movement velocity of the COM and maximum excursion were 31% and 18% greater, respectively, in mediolateral than anteroposterior direction (5.4°/s vs. 4.1°/s; 97.5% vs. 82.6%). Conclusion: Our results suggest that postural stability was not affected by the weight-induced lowered COM, informing the development and improvement of balance training strategies.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.31-40
• /
• 2013

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to measure the center of mass in body with stroke patients using a tri-axial accelerometer during walking. Methods : Twenty-eight patients were recruited and divided into two groups for this study. To measure their walking ability, Timed Up & Go (TUG) test and Fucntioanl Gait Assessment (FGA) were conducted and acceleration at rotation of center of mass (COM) in body were measure for each group. Results : In the comparisons between the two groups, the TUG and FGA were not significant differences and acceleration at rotation of COM was not significant differences also. Conclusion : Our research results suggesting that the accelerometer may be used as a testing tool and ongoing assessment tool for stroke patients during effects of intervention in walking.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.261-266
• /
• 2010

Human body is hard to be in perfect balance during walking. Most of time the trunk is supported by one leg and the center of mass(COM) falls to the contralateral side. Thus, dynamic variables such as the velocity of the COM should be considered when gait stability is evaluated. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the extrapolated center of mass(XCom) which utilized the COM position and its velocity, is appropriate to evaluate gait stability. Ten healthy adults participated in this study and performed 3 different types of gaits(normal(NG), hands on waists(HWG), and hands on shoulders(HSG)) onto 4 different types of obstacle(obstacle height: 0%, 30%, 40% and 50% of leg length). Medio-lateral Com-CoP and XCom-CoP inclination angle were calculated during support phase. For all condition, greater M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angles were found(p<.05) compared with those of matched obstacle height CoM-CoP. Especially, M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angle at 50% height revealed the best condition for monitoring dynamic stability. Significantly increased in M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angle was found(p<.05) as obstacle height increased on NG and HWG.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.02c
• /
• pp.326-333
• /
• 2007

To simulate solid dynamics,a we must com-pute the mass, the center of mass, and the products of inertia about the axes of the body of interest. These mass property computations must be continuously re-peated for certain simulations with rigid bodies or as the shape of the body changes. We introduce a GPU-friendly algorithm to approximate the mass properties for an arbitrarily shaped body. Our algorithm converts the necessary volume integrals into surface integrals on a projected plane. It then maps the plane into a frame-buffer in order to perform the surface integrals rapidly on the GPU. To deal with non-convex shapes, we use a depth-peeling algorithm. Our approach is image-based; hence, it is not restricted by the mathematical or geometric representation of the body, which means that it can efficiently compute the mass properties of any object that can be rendered on the graphics hardware. We compare the speed and accuracy of our algorithm with an analytic algorithm, and demonstrate it in a hydrostatic buoyancy simulation for real-time applications, such as interactive games.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.11-19
• /
• 2020

When a character's pose changes, its center of mass(COM) also changes. The change of COM has distinctive patterns corresponding to various motion types like walking, running or sitting. Thus the motion type can be predicted by using COM movement. We propose a motion generator that uses character's center of mass information. This generator can generate various motions without annotated action type labels. Thus dataset for training and running can be generated full-automatically. Our neural network model takes the motion history of the character and its center of mass information as inputs and generates a full-body pose for the current frame, and is trained using simple Convolutional Neural Network(CNN) that performs 1D convolution to deal with time-series motion data.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.247-254
• /
• 2009

We studied the postural response induced by plantar sole vibration with various frequencies(20, 60, 100Hz) and vibration zone(the anterior and posterior foot zone) of both soles during standing. Eight healthy young adults were exposed to 15s periods of plantar sole vibration while blindfolded. Body sway(COM, center of mass), the angle of neck, trunk, hip, knee, ankle and EMG of four lower limb muscles(tibialis anterior, lateral and medial gastrocnemial, soleus muscle) were recorded during 15s plantar sole vibration using 3D motion analysis system. Simulating each zone separately resulted in spatially oriented body tilts; oppositely directed backward and forward, respectively, the amplitude of which was proportional to the vibration frequency. EMG activity of lower limb muscles also varied according to the direction of the vibration zone and linearly according to the frequency. These findings led us to consider the plantar sole vibration as useful method of postural balance control and adjustment.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.815-819
• /
• 2018

In this study, we investigate balance of a biped robot applying Foot Placement Estimator (FPE) in simulation. FPE method is used to determine a stable foot location for balancing the biped robot when an initial orientation of the robot body is statically unstable. In this case, the 6-DOF biped robot with point foot is modelled considering contact and friction between foot and the ground. For simulation, the mass of the robot is 1 kg assuming the center of robot mass (COM) is located at the center of the robot body. The height from the ground to the COM is 1 m. Robot balance is achieved applying stable foot locations calculated from FPE method using linear and angular velocities, and the height of the COM. The initially unstable angular postures, $5^{\circ}$ and $-5^{\circ}$, of the robot body are simulated. Simulation results confirm that the FPE method provides stable balance of the robot for all given unstable initial conditions.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.39-46
• /
• 2015

Purpose: The accelerometer is a tool for evaluating walking by the displacement of the center of mass (COM) in the body. Recently, smartphones have added an accelerometer app, and it can be used to evaluate outcomemanures in rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the COM in the bodies of normal persons and stroke patients using this smartphone application while walking. Methods: Twenty normal persons and twenty-two stroke patients were recruited and had their COM measured using G-walk and the smartphone application, SMAP, during 10 m walking. Subjects repeated the 10 m of walking 3 times, and we used the SMAP, Accelerometer Monitor ver. 1.5.0, to evaluate COM during the walk. To measure the displacement of COM, we used the difference in value between the maximal angle and the minimum anterior-posterior (AP), mediolateral (ML), and rotational angles during the walk. Results: For the normal persons, there was significant correlation between the AP and AP of SMAP, and was also a significant correlation between rotational angle and the ML of SMAP. In the stroke patients, there was significant correlation between AP and ML, and the rotational angle of SMAP. Conclusion: Our research results suggest that if the SMAP system is reinforced in the case of patients who have a greater displacement of COM, it may be used as an evaluation tool during walking.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.13-23
• /
• 2021

In this paper, we proposed a framework that generates the trajectory of a single rigid body based on its COM configuration and contact pose. Because we use a smaller input dimension than when we use a full body state, we can improve the learning time for reinforcement learning. Even with a 68% reduction in learning time (approximately two hours), the character trained by our network is more robust to external perturbations tolerating an external force of 1500 N which is about 7.5 times larger than the maximum magnitude from a previous approach. For this framework, we use centroidal dynamics to calculate the next configuration of the COM, and use reinforcement learning for obtaining a policy that gives us parameters for controlling the contact positions and forces.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the balance differences between skilled players and less-skilled players during Hakdariseogi motion of Keumgang Poomsae in Taekwondo. To achieve the study goal, total of 10 Taekwondo athletes; 5 skilled players(S, body mass: $67.0{\pm}5.7$ kg, height: $174.0{\pm}4.8$ cm, age: $20.0{\pm}2.0$ yrs) and 5 less-skilled players(LS, body mass: $73.0{\pm}4.9$ kg, height: $176.4{\pm}6.1$ cm, age: $20.8{\pm}1.3$ yrs) participated in this study. A three-dimensional motion analysis with 8 infrared cameras and one force plate whose sampling frequency as 30 Hz and 300 Hz, respectively, were performed. Participants' motion were divided into three phases which were preparation phase(P1), performing phase(P2) and maintaining phase(P3). The range and velocities of COP, the range and RMS of ground reaction torque and displacement between COM and center of BOS of each phase were computed. In this study, at P1 and P3 which were double and single stance, respectively, the range and M-L velocities of COP revealed significantly higher in LS compared with those of S(p<.05). At P2 which was single stance, LS indicated significantly higher in range of COP and ground reaction torque, and M-L velocities of COP than those of S(p<.05). The significantly shorter displacement between COM and center of BOS, however, was found in LS compared with that of S(p<.05). The results from our study indicated that S revealed more stable performance and a better posture control ability during performing Hakdariseogi motion.