• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.533-539
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study is to estimate a validity of control signal through a design of Exoskeleton Robot Arm's capable of intelligent recognition as a human arm's motion by using realtime processed data of generated EMG signals. By an intelligent algorithm, the EMG output value of human biceps and triceps muscles contraction can be recognized and used for the control over exoskeleton arm corresponding to human's recognition and judgement. The EMG sensing data of muscles contraction and relaxation are used as the input signal from human's body to operate the Exoskeleton Robot Arm thus copying human arm motion. An intelligent control of Exoskeleton Robot Arm is to design the analog control circuit which processes the input data, and then to manufacture an integrated control board. And then abstracted signal is passed by DSP signal processing, Fuzzy logic algorithm is designed for a accurate prediction of weight or load through the intelligent algorithm, and design an Exoskeleton Robot Arm to express a human's intention.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.434-441
• /
• 2004

In this paper, an exoskeleton-type motion capturing system is designed and implemented. The device is designed to have 12 degree-of-freedom entirely to represent human arm motions. Forward and inverse kinematics of the device are analyzed to make sure of its singular positions. With the designed model parameters, simulation studies are conducted to verify that the designed motion capturing system is effective to represent human motions within the workspace. As a counterpart of the exoskeleton system, a mobile robot is built to follow human motion restrictively. Experimental studies of teleoperation from the exoskeleton device to control the mobile robot are carried out to show feasible application of wireless man-machine interface.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.6 no.9
• /
• pp.796-802
• /
• 2000

A master-slave system for teleoperation is usually used to control the robor's motion on remote place such as abyss, outer space etc.. When the slave robot is a humanoid one, it can make a better performance if the configuration of the master arm is similar to that of the slave arm and of the human. The master arm proposed in this paper has a type to be put on the human arm, that is, the exoskeleton type, and has a combination of serial joint and parallel mechanism imitating the human's arm structure of muscles and bones, so called hybrid mechanism so that it can follow arm's movement effectively. But it is easy to solve the forward kinematis of the parallel structure because relating equations are implicit functions. In order to solve that, the virtual joint angle corresponding to human arm's joint is introduced and a sequential computation step is employed in calculating virtual joint angles and the posture of the end effector. Also validity is checked up through computational simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.8
• /
• pp.156-164
• /
• 1998

IMS is a more advanced manufacturing system than FMS. However, IMS do not have sufficient performance for the work in the various and uncertain environment, because of the difficulty of the work and occurrence of the unexpected condition. If IMS is hard to work properly, teleoperation system can support it by using the human's consideration and judgment. The master mechanism is a basic component of the teleoperation system and the development of the useful one is important for efficiency of the work. A master mechanism of exoskeleton type can increase the work efficiency, mobility and harmony between a working robot and an operator. This paper describes an arm-harness of exoskeleton type, which is able to drive a robot according to judgment. This device is applied to a robot system for evaluating the system performance through the experiment.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.20 no.8
• /
• pp.875-881
• /
• 2014

The redundancy resolution of the seven DOF (Degree of Freedom) upper limb exoskeleton is key to the synchronous motion between a robot and a human user. According to the seven DOF human arm model, positioning and orientating the wrist can be completed by multiple arm configurations that results in the non-unique solution to the inverse kinematics. This paper presents analysis on the kinematic and dynamic aspect of the human arm movement and its effect on the redundancy resolution of the seven DOF human arm model. The redundancy of the arm is expressed mathematically by defining the swivel angle. The final form of swivel angle can be represented as a linear combination of two different swivel angles achieved by optimizing two cost functions based on kinematic and dynamic criteria. The kinematic criterion is to maximize the projection of the longest principal axis of the manipulability ellipsoid of the human arm on the vector connecting the wrist and the virtual target on the head region. The dynamic criterion is to minimize the mechanical work done in the joint space for each of two consecutive points along the task space trajectory. The contribution of each criterion on the redundancy was verified by the post processing of experimental data collected with a motion capture system. Results indicate that the bimodal redundancy resolution approach improved the accuracy of the predicted swivel angle. Statistical testing of the dynamic constraint contribution shows that under moderate speeds and no load, the dynamic component of the human arm is not dominant, and it is enough to resolve the redundancy without dynamic constraint for the realtime application.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.41-46
• /
• 2014

The design of a 7 degree of freedom motion capture device(MCD) has been presented. The newly designed MCD overcomes the shortcomings of the existing CADEN-7 exoskeleton robot by implementing various ergonomic design. To improve ease of operation, light-weight high-strength materials such as carbon pipes and engineering plastics were used to reduce weight of the MCD and arm-length adjustment mechanism was also added. The MCD showed consistent measurement results in designed experiments involving change of arm posture from nominal configuration to either elbow-side or arm-front configurations. Furthermore, captured motion in more natural tennis swing appeared to agree well with visual observations made.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.176-183
• /
• 2009

This paper proposes command signal generating method for a wearable robot using the force as the input signal. The basic concept of this system pursues the combination of the natural and sophisticated intelligence of human with the powerful motion capability of the robot. We define a task for the command signal generation to operate with the human body simultaneously, paying attention to comfort and ease of wear. In this study, we suggest a basic exoskeleton experimental system to evaluate a HRI(Human Robot Interface), selecting interfaces of arm braces on both wrists and a weight harness on the torso to connect the robot and human. We develop the HRI to provide a command for the robot motion. It connects between the human and the robot with the multi-axis load-cell, and it measures the relative force between the human and the robot. The control system calculates the trajectory of end-effector using this force signal. In this paper, we verify the performance of proposed system through the motion of elbow E/F(Extension/Flexion), the shoulder E/F and the shoulder Ab/Ad (Abduction/Adduction).

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.1106-1114
• /
• 2012

To achieve synchronized motion between a wearable robot and a human user, the redundancy must be resolved in the same manner by both systems. According to the seven DOF (Degrees of Freedom) human arm model composed of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, positioning and orientating the wrist in space is a task requiring only six DOFs. Due to this redundancy, a given task can be completed by multiple arm configurations, and thus there exists no unique mathematical solution to the inverse kinematics. This paper presents analysis on the kinematic and dynamic aspect of the human arm movement and their effect on the redundancy resolution of the human arm based on a seven DOF manipulator model. The redundancy of the arm is expressed mathematically by defining the swivel angle. The final form of swivel angle can be represented as a linear combination of two different swivel angles achieved by optimizing different cost functions based on kinematic and dynamic criteria. The kinematic criterion is to maximize the projection of the longest principal axis of the manipulability ellipsoid for the human arm on the vector connecting the wrist and the virtual target on the head region. The dynamic criterion is to minimize the mechanical work done in the joint space for each two consecutive points along the task space trajectory. As a first step, the redundancy based on the kinematic criterion will be thoroughly studied based on the motion capture data analysis. Experimental results indicate that by using the proposed redundancy resolution criterion in the kinematic level, error between the predicted and the actual swivel angle acquired from the motor control system is less than five degrees.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.7
• /
• pp.134-141
• /
• 2009

Recently, many researchers have tried to develop wearable robots for various fields such as medical and military purposes. We have been studying robotic exoskeletons to assist the motion of persons who have problems with their muscle function in daily activities and rehabilitation. The upper-limb motions (shoulder, elbow and wrist motion) are especially important for such persons to perform daily activities. Generally for shoulder motion 300F is needed to describe its motion(extension/flexion, abduction/adduction, internal/external rotation) but we have used a redundant actuator thus making a 4 DOF system. In this paper, we proposed the mechanism design of the exoskeleton which consists of 4-DOF for shoulder and 1-DOF for elbow robotic exoskeleton to assist upper-limb motion. Then we compared the new mechanism design and prototype mechanism design. Here we also analyze the proposed system kinematically to find out and to avoid the singular point. This research will ensure that the proposed wearable robot system make human's motion more powerfully and more easily.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.73-78
• /
• 2014

In this paper we propose a wearable elbow rehabilitation robot applied the mirror therapy for elbow rehabilitation. To implement the mirror therapy, a data suit for measuring healthy elbow motion is developed. A powered elbow exoskeleton wearing in paralyzed arm is controlled by the measured data from the healthy elbow motion. In experiments, the elbow rehabilitation exercise by the mirror therapy is performed. From the experimental results we show the wearable exercise robot including the data suit is applicable to the mirror therapy for elbow rehabilitation.