• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.82-89
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• 2010

Ankle-foot orthosis with an artificial pneumatic muscle which is intended for the assistance of plantarfelxion torque was developed. In this study, power pattern of the device in the various pneumatics and the effectiveness of the system were investigated. The pneumatic power was provided by ankle-foot orthosis controlled by user‘s physiological signal, that is, muscular stiffness in soleus muscle. This pneumatic power can assist plantarflexion torque of ankle joint. The subjects performed maximal voluntary isokinetic plantarflexion motion on a biodexdynamometer in different pneumatics, and they completed three conditions: 1) without wearing the orthosis, 2) wearing the orthosis with artificial muscles turned off, 3) wearing the orthosis activated under muscular stiffness control. Through these experiments, we confirmed the effectiveness of the orthosis and muscular stiffness control using the analyzing isokinetic plantarflexion torque. The experimental results showed that isokinetic torques of plantarflexion motion of the ankle joints gradually increased in incremental pneumatic. The effectiveness of the orthosis was -7.26% and the effectiveness of the muscular stiffness control was 17.83% in normalized isokinetic plantarflexion torque. Subjects generated the less isokinetic torques of the ankle joints in wearing the orthosis with artificial muscles turned off, but isokinetic torques were appropriately reinforced in condition of wearing the orthosis activated under muscular stiffness control(17.83%) compared to wearing the orthosis(-7.26%). Therefore, we respect that developed powered orthosis is applied in the elderly that has weak muscular power as the rehabilitation equipment.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.887-893
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• 2009

In this paper, a mask-panel alignment robot system is considered for IT industry applications. Two kinds of solutions are suggested which are required in constructing a control system for the alignment robot with actuation redundancy. First, the kinematic solution for the 4PPR parallel positioning mechanism is formulated for an arbitrary initial posture, which relates the mask-panel misalignment in the task space and the desired actuator displacements in the joint space. Secondly, in order to increase the stiffness of the control motion and also to avoid the mechanical lock which may happen due to the redundant actuation, a new synchronous control method is proposed which has the merit of coordinating joint control motions while not losing individual joint control performance. In addition, the engineering process to develop a visual alignment robot system is described with the results of experimental setup and GUI software. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed alignment system control methodology and how much beneficial it will be in real industrial applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.23-32
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• 1988

A control system for improving the moving accuracy of robotic manipulators with elastic joints is devloped. The dynamics of manipulator system is splitted into two sub-dynamics; of arm-link and actuator rotor- link, which are coupled statically through joint torque. Two contorl loops are implemented respectively around both sub-dynamic systems. Computed torque algorithm with acceleration feedback is used for the arm-link control loop, and for the actuator rotor-link control loop PID algorithm is adopted. The resulting control system is tested through a series of computer simulation for a PUMA type manipulator, The reaults show good performance of the developed control system for wide range of joint stiffness and moving speed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.20-24
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• 1997

In general, pantograph type manipulators are used for carrying heavy payloads with positional accuracy. In this paper, a double pantograph type manipulator, activated by two slider joints, is studied for applying to file handing machine in atomic power plant. In order to realize the stable horizontal movement of a heavy fuel rod whit good positional accuracy, methods for allocating slider and finding constant joint rates are proposed. In addition, the static deflection of the proposed mechanism was studied using transfer-stiffness matrix method. A neural network control algorithm which compensates static deflections is explored with computer simulations.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.13-21
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• 2018

Background: After a stroke, the patient may have abnormal muscle tone due to abnormal alignment. Physical therapists have used stretching, neural mobilization other methods to treat patients after stroke. In addition, joint mobilization is also used to stimulation in pathway of cervical segmental region and to normal cervical spine alignment. Objects: The purpose of this study was to determine whether Maitland cervical spine mobilization has an immediate effect on muscle tone and stiffness of upper extremity. Methods: Thirty subjects were divided into a experimental group ($n_1=10$), a placebo group ($n_2=10$), and a control group ($n_3=10$). The Maitland cervical spine mobilization was applied in the supine position. Immediately after the intervention, muscle tone and stiffness of biceps brachii, brachioradialis, deltoid, and pectoralis major were measured using Myoton(R)PRO. In the placebo group, sham mobilization was applied to the fifth and sixth cervical vertebra, and the control group was instructed to control breathing. Results: In the experimental group, significant differences were found in muscle tone and stiffness of biceps brachii and brachioradialis in comparison with the affected side and the non-affected side before the intervention (p<.05), whereas there was no significant difference after the intervention (p>.05). Muscle tone of biceps brachii on the non-affected side and pectoralis major on the affected side was significantly decreased before and after the intervention (p<.05). The placebo and control group showed no changes on the non-affected and affected side, and no significant differences were detected before and after the intervention. All the groups revealed no significant differences in muscle tone and stiffness of upper extremity before and after the intervention. Conclusion: This study suggests that the application of Maitland cervical spine mobilization enhanced muscle tone of upper extremity on the involved side symmetrically, and influenced a decrease in muscle tone.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2016

Objective: This purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between dimensionless leg stiffness and kinetic variables during gait performance, and its modulation with body weight. Method: The study sample consisted of 10 young women divided into 2 groups (Control, n=5 and Obese, n=5). Four camcorders (HDR-HC7/HDV 1080i, Sony Corp, Japan) and one force plate (AMTI., USA) were used to analyze the vertical ground reaction force (GRF) variables, center of pressure (COP), low limb joint angle, position of pelvis center and leg lengths during the stance phase of the gait cycle. Results: Our results revealed that the center of mass (COM) displacement velocity along the y-axis was significantly higher in the obese group than that in control subjects. Displacement in the position of the center of the pelvis center (Z-axis) was also significantly higher in the obese group than that in control subjects. In addition, the peak vertical force (PVF) and dimensionless leg stiffness were also significantly higher in the obese group. However, when normalized to the body weight, the PVF did not show a significant between-group difference. When normalized to the leg length, the PVF and stiffness were both lower in the obese group than in control subjects. Conclusion: In the context of performance, we concluded that increased dimensionless leg stiffness during the gait cycle is associated with increased velocity of COM, PVF, and the change in leg lengths (%).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2003

A parallel manipulator has high stiffness and all the joint errors on the device are not accumulated at the end -effector unlike a serial manipulator. These are the reasons why the parallel manipulator has been widely used in many fields of industry. In the parallel manipulator, it is very important to predict the exact pose of the end-effector when we want to control the end-effector motion. Installation errors have to be determined in order to predict and control the actual position and pose of the end-effector. This paper presents an algorithm to find the whole 36 joint error components with joint clearance errors and measurement errors considered, when a link length measurement sensor is used and data more than 36 times are acquired for 36 different configurations. A simulation test using this algorithm is performed with a Matlab program which uses the Levenberg-Marquardt method that is known to be efficient for non-linear optimization.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.147-157
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• 2003

The characteristics of a rock joint which influence the stability of rock mass structures such as cut slopes and tunnels are largely controlled by the conditions of the rock joint as well as its boundary conditions. The conditions of rock joints comprise asperity strength, roughness, and filling materials. Boundary conditions can be represented by assuming that the deformability(or stiffness) of the rock mass surrounding the joints is modelled by a spring with stiffness. A new direct shear apparatus was developed in this study, which adapts a servo control system using PID algorithm. This apparatus can be used to investigate the various aspects of shear characteristics of the rock joints at conditions of constant normal stress and constant normal stiffness and so on. The test results for saw-cut teeth joints show that shear strength should be evaluated by considering its specific boundary conditions far the design of tunnels and cut slopes.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.422-432
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• 1992

Previous investigations of redundant manipulators have often focussed on local optimization for redundancy resolution by using the Jacobian pseudoinverse to solve the instantaneous relationship between the joint and end-effector velocities. This paper establishes some new goals for redundancy resolution at position level by using configuration control approach which has been recently developed. Minimum gravity loading, joint limit avoidance, minimum sensitivity, maximum stiffness and minimum impulse are introduced as redundancy resolution goals. These new goals for redundancy resolution allow more efficient utilizations of the redundant joints based on the desired task requirements. Simple computer simulation examples are given for illustration.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.105-116
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Korean medicine based arthritis management program for community dwelling elderly women with osteoarthritis. Methods : A Nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used for this study. Elderly people who agreed to participated in the study were assigned to a experimental group(n = 29) or a control group (n = 30). The Korean medicine based arthritis management program conducted for 12 weeks, 2 times a week. Study outcomes were measured by structured questionnaires from April, 2016 to July. For data analysis, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and ANCOVA were performed using SPSS version 21.0. Results : Pain, stiffness, balance, strength of lower extremity, and self care activity were significant difference between the two groups in pretest and posttest(F = 8.23, p = 006), (F = 9.13, p = .004), (F = 5.74, p = .020), (F = 4.98, p = .030), (F = 8.47, p = .005). Conclusions : The Korean medicine based arthritis management program was effective on decreasing joint pain, stiffness, and increasing balance, strength of lower extremity and self care activity of community dwelling elderly women with osteoarthritis. This program was found to be useful in alleviating and managing joint symptoms of elderly women with osteoarthritis.