• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.593-598
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• 2014

Hand gesture recognition based on vision is a challenging task in human-robot interaction. The sign language of finger spelling alphabets has been tested as a kind of hand gesture. In this paper, we test hand gesture recognition by detecting the contour shape and orientation of hand with visual image. The method has three stages, the first stage of finding hand component separated from the background image, the second stage of extracting the contour feature over the hand component and the last stage of comparing the feature with the reference features in the database. Here, finger spelling alphabets are used to verify the performance of our system and our method shows good performance to discriminate finger alphabets.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.180-185
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• 2003

In order to enhance dexterity in execution of robot tasks, a redundant number of degrees-of-freedom (DOF) is adopted for design of robotic mechanisms like robot arms and multi-fingered robot hands. Associated with such redundancy in the number of DOFs relative to the number of physical variables necessary and sufficient for description of a given task, an extra performance index is introduced for controlling such a redundant robot in order to avoid arising of an ill-posed problem of inverse kinematics from the task space to the joint space. This paper shows that such an ill-posedness of DOF redundancy can be resolved in a natural way by using a novel concept named “stability on a manifold”. To show this, two illustrative robot tasks 1) robotic handwriting and 2) control of an object posture via rolling contact by a multi-DOF finger are analyzed in details.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.964-970
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• 2014

In this study we have developed an anthropomorphic robot hand and arm by using tendon-tubes which can be used for people's everyday life as a robot's dynamic power transmission device. Most previous robot hands or arms had critical problem on dynamic optimization due to heavy weight of power transmission parts which placed on robot's finger area or arm area. In order to resolve this problem we designed light-weighted robot hand and arm by using tendon-tubes which were consisted of many articulations and links just like human's hand and arm. The most prominent property of this robot hand and arm is reduction of the weight of robot's power transmission part. Reduction of weight of robot's power transmission parts will allow us to develop energy saving and past moving robot hands and arms which can be used for artificial arms. As a first step for real development in this study we showed structural design and demonstration of simulation of possibility of a robot hand and arm by tendon-tube. In the future research we are planning to verify practicality of the robot hand and arm by applying sensing and controlling method to a specimen.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.125-133
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• 2017

This paper presents the inter-rater reliability of finger spasticity assessment tested realized by using finger simulator that mimics finger spasticity of patients after a stroke. For controlling the simulator torque, finger spasticity was modeled, and the model parameters were obtained by measuring quantitative data while grading based on Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS). A robotic finger simulator was designed for mimicking finger spasticity. Evaluation of this simulator with the help of seven rehabilitation doctors showed that the simulator had a Cohen's kappa value of 0.619 for Metacarpophalangeal Joint and 0.514 for Proximal Interphalangeal Joint. Fleiss' kappa between raters is 0.513 for Metacarpophalangeal Joint and 0.486 for Proximal Interphalangeal Joint. Therefore, the spasticity assessment made by MAS grade system is not reliable owing to the subjectivity of the assessment. The proposed robotic simulator can be used as a training tool for improving the reliability of the spasticity assessment.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.379-386
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• 2023

When patients suffer from finger injuries, their finger joints can become stiff and inflexible due to decreased ability to exercise the finger tendons. This can lead to a loss of strength and difficulty using their hands. To address this, it is important to provide patients with consistent rehabilitation treatment that can help restore finger flexibility and strength simultaneously. In this study, we propose wearable gloves that use FSRs (force sensitive resistors) for finger strength training. The glove is designed to be adjustable using rubber bands and a custom PCB is designed for signal acquisition. For the evaluation of finger strength training, the result was analyzed in four cases. We suggest a vector that represents the center of five finger forces, and the result shows that the vector can indicate the level of force balance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.51-57
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• 2011

The lightweight and compact actuator with high power is required to perform motion with multiple degrees of freedom. To reduce the size and inertia of a robot manipulator, the mechanical transmission system is used. The shape memory alloy(SMA) is similar to the muscle-tendon-bone network of a human hand. However, there are some drawback and nonlinearity, such as the hysteresis and the stress dependence. In this paper, the design of the underactuated robot hand is studied. The 3-finger dexterous hand is driven by the SMA actuator using segmental mechanism. This digital approach enables to overcome the nonlinearity of SMA wire. The translational displacement of SMA actuator required to bend a phalanx of the underactuated robot hand is estimated and the bending angle of the underactuated robot hand according to input displacement of SMA actuator is predicted by the multi-body dynamic analysis.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.12-19
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• 2003

This paper describes the design of a robot's hand with two fingers for stably grasping an unknown object, and the development of a 3-axis force sensor for which is necessary to constructing the robot's fingers. In order to safely grasp an unknown object using the robot's fingers, they should measure the forces in the gripping and in the gravity directions, and control the measured forces. The 3-axis force sensor should be used for accurately measuring the weight of an unknown object in the gravity direction. Thus, in this paper, the robot's hand with two fingers for stably grasping an unknown object is designed, and the 3-axis force sensor is newly modeled and fabricated using several parallel-plate beams.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2001

This paper describes the design of a two-axis force sensor for robots finger. In detects the x-direction force Fx and y-direction force Fy simultaneously. In order to safely grasp an unknown object using the robots fingers, they should detect the force or gripping direction and the force of gravity direction, and perform the force control using the forces detected. Therefore, the robots hand should be made by the robots finger with tow-axis force sensor that can detect the x-direction force and y-direction force si-multaneously. Thus, in this paper, the two-axis force sensor for robots finger is designed using several parallel-plate beams. The equations to calculate the strain of the beams according to the force in order to design the sensing element of the force sensor are derived and these equations are used to design the aize of two-axis force sensor sensing element. The reliability of the derive equa-tions is verified buy performing a finite element analysis of the sensing element. The strain obtained through this process is compared to that obtained through the theory analysis and a characteristics test of the fabricated sensor. It reveals that the rated strains calculated from the derive equations make a good agreement with the results from the Finite Element Method analysis and from the character-istic test.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.1203-1210
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• 2007

Robots have begun to perform various tasks on replacing the human in the daily life such as cleaning, entertainments etc. In order to accomplish the effective performance of intricate and precise tasks, robot hand must have special capabilities, such as decision making in given condition, autonomy in unknown situation and stable manipulation of object. In this study, we addresses the development of a 3-fingered humanoid robot hand system. We execute static analysis, vibration analysis and flexible dynamics to reserve stability at the design. Grasp motion of the finger uses a linear actuator and gears. Motion can be distinguished into four parts depending on the grasping thin paper, sphere, and column. In each motion, we compare the displacement of the case to be rigid with the case to be flexible. As a result, manufactured and feasibility of the robot hand is validated through preliminary experiments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.390-394
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• 1994

In many cases, tasks are unpredictable and therefore not doable by special-purpose or pro-programble robots. So master/slave type robot hands which combine human perceptions with conventional robot hands are required as robot end effector. These also can be applied to hazardous worksites such as outer space, deep sea and nuclear power plant. In this study, master/slave type robot fingers with 3 joints each are designed and constructed. To control force accurately, TDT(tension difference type) torque sensors are constructed and attached toeachjoints of slave finger and new force reflecting control algorithm is suggested. Finally, experimental results show that the new control algorithm can be successfully applied.