• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.309-315
• /
• 2015

This paper presents a lower-limb exoskeleton testbed and its control method. An exoskeleton is a wearable robotic system that can enhance wearer's muscle power or assist human's movements. Among a variety of its applications, especially for military purpose, a wearable robot can be very useful for carrying heavy loads during locomotion by augmenting soldiers' mobility and endurance. The locomotion test on a treadmill was performed up to maximum 4km/h walking speed wearing the lower-limb exoskeleton testbed with a 45kg backpack load.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.43 no.10
• /
• pp.880-888
• /
• 2020

Inherited peripheral neuropathy is a heterogeneous group of peripheral neurodegenerative disorders including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Many peripheral neuropathies often accompany impaired axonal construction and function. To study the molecular and cellular basis of axon-defective peripheral neuropathy, we explore the possibility of using Caenorhabditis elegans, a powerful nematode model equipped with a variety of genetics and imaging tools. In search of potential candidates of C. elegans peripheral neuropathy models, we monitored the movement and the body posture patterns of 26 C. elegans strains with disruption of genes associated with various peripheral neuropathies and compiled a database of their phenotypes. Our assay showed that movement features of the worms with mutations in HSPB1, MFN2, DYNC1H1, and KIF1B human homologues are significantly different from the control strain, suggesting they are viable candidates for C. elegans peripheral neuropathy models.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
• /
• 2008.04a
• /
• pp.347-350
• /
• 2008

모듈라 뱀형 로봇은 고장에 대한 강인성과 환경에 유연한 이동 특성을 가지고 있으나, 제어가 어렵다는 단점이 있다. 진화연산을 로봇에 이용한 많은 연구가 진행되어 왔지만, 어떤 기법의 진화연산이 문제에 더 적합하고, 높은 성능을 얻을 수 있는지에 대한 비교는 거의 이루어지지 않고 있다. 본 논문은 두 가지 대표적인 진화기법인 GA와 GP를 이용하여 모듈라 뱀형 로봇의 이동 제어를 수행하였다. 대상 로봇은 H/W로 구현이 가능한 실제 모듈로 구성되었고, Webots을 사용하여 시뮬레이션 실험을 수행하였으며, GA와 GP 기법에 의한 결과를 비교 분석하였다.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.216-221
• /
• 2012

Recently, although the need of marine robots being raised in extreme areas, the basis is very deficient. Fortunately, as the robot competition is vitalizing and the need of the robot education is increasing, it is desirable to establish the basis of the R&D and industrialization of marine robots and to train professionals through the development and diffusion of marine robot kits. However, in conventional case, there is no remotely operated aerial robot-kit based on the balloon for the marine robot competition, which has the abilities of the airborne locomotion and obstacle avoidance. To solve this problem, an aerial robot-kit which has the abilities of the airborne locomotion and remote control, is developed. To verify the performance of the developed kit, test and evaluation such as surge, yaw and pitch is performed. The test and evaluation results show that the possibility of the real applications of the developed kit.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.163-169
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The present study was designed to investigate the effect of trunk control training on the labile surface on relative impulse and balance in stroke patients. Methods: A total of 21 participants were assigned to an experimental group (n=11) or a control group (n=10). In addition to conventional therapy, the experimental group received trunk control training on the swiss ball; 20 minutes, 4 times a week, for 8 weeks. Balance ability was evaluated by FRT (functional reaching test) and TUG (time up and go). In addition relative impulse in 6 areas of the foot (hallux, 1st metatarsal head, 2~3 metatasal head, 4~5 metatasal head, mid foot and heel) were measured using the F-scan system to evaluate locomotion ability during gait. Results: Significant differences in the relative impulse were observed in the areas of the 2~3 metatasal head during gait after exercise in both the control group and experimental group (p<0.05). Also, a significant increase was seen in the hallux after exercise in the experimental group (p<0.05), but no such significant increase was seen in the control group (p>0.05). Significant differences were observed in FRT and TUG in the experimental group but no such significant increase was observed in the control group (p>0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that trunk control training on labile surface improves the balance in stroke patients and has a positive effect on locomotion ability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2011.06a
• /
• pp.297-298
• /
• 2011

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.20 no.9
• /
• pp.936-941
• /
• 2014

Walking mechanisms are very important for legged robots to ensure their stable locomotion. In this research, Klann-linkage is suggested as a walking mechanism for a water-running robot and is optimized using level average analysis. The structure of the Klann-linkage is introduced first and design variables for the Klann-linkage are identified considering the kinematic task of the walking mechanism. Next, the design problem is formulated as a path generation optimization problem. Specifically, the desired path for the foot-pad is defined and the objective function is defined as the structural error between the desired and the generated paths. A process for solving the optimization problem is suggested utilizing the sensitivity analysis of the design variables. As a result, optimized lengths of Klann-linkage are obtained and the optimum trajectory is obtained. It is found that the optimized trajectory improves the cost function by about 62% from the initial one. It is expected that the results from this research can be used as a good example for designing legged robots.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.57-66
• /
• 2014

This paper describes the design concept of a bio-inspired legged underwater and estimating its performance by implementing simulations. Especially the leg structure of an underwater organism, diving beetles, is fully adopted to our designing to employ its efficiency for swimming. To make it possible for the robot to both walk and swim, the transformable kinematic model according to applications of the leg is proposed. To aid in the robot development and estimate swimming performance of the robot in advance, an underwater simulator has been constructed and an approximated model based on the developing robot was set up in the simulation. Furthermore, previous work that we have done, the swimming locomotion produced by a swimming patten generator based on the control parameters, is briefly mentioned in the paper and adopted to the simulation for extensive studies such as path planning and control techniques. Through the results, we established the strategy of leg joints which make the robot swim in the three dimensional space to reach effective controls.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.12
• /
• pp.1717-1725
• /
• 2013

The objectives of this study were to compare visual observation and an electronic grazing time method and to evaluate the effects of nutritional plans on intake, grazing behavior and horizontal and vertical locomotion of young bulls in a tropical pasture. Thirty-nine Nellore young bulls with an average body weight of $345{\pm}9.3$ kg kept in pasture were used. The experimental treatments consisted of: restricted: animals kept in a plot with a low mass of forage receiving mineral mixture only; control: animals receiving mineral mixture only; HPHC: a high protein and high carbohydrate supplement; HPLC: a high protein and low carbohydrate supplement; LPHC: a low protein and high carbohydrate supplement; LPLC: a low protein and low carbohydrate supplement. GPS collars equipped with activity sensors were used. Information about head position, latitude, longitude and altitude were recorded. Daytime grazing behavioral patterns monitored by a continuous focal animal recording method was compared to behavior estimated by the activity sensor. Feed intake was estimated by a marker method. The Restricted group presented lower (p<0.05) intake of dry matter and TDN. However, difference in dry matter intake was not found (p>0.05) between non-supplemented and supplemented animals. Difference was not found (p>0.05) in daytime grazing time obtained by visual observation or the activity sensor method. The restricted group showed longer (p<0.05) grazing time (9.58 h/d) than other groups, but difference was not found (p>0.05) in the grazing time between Control (8.35 h/d) and supplemented animals (8.03 h/d). The Restricted group presented lower (p<0.05) horizontal locomotion distance (2,168 m/d) in comparison to other groups (2,580.6 m/d). It can be concluded that the use of activity sensor methods can be recommended due to their being similar to visual observation and able to record 24-h/d. While supplements with high carbohydrates reduce pasture intake, they do not change grazing behavior. Moderate supplementation (until 50% of protein requirement and 30% of energy requirement) of beef cattle on tropical pasture has no effect on daily locomotion.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.789-795
• /
• 2010

For the reliable clamping of a robotic colonoscope inside the colon, we propose a clamping module consisting of six legs at the front and a trigger at the rear. In addition, a pneumatic-line based locomotive mechanism, which was developed previously for in-pipe inspection, is adopted to reduce the friction force between the pneumatic lines and the locomotion environment. In order to evaluate locomotion performance, a robot with a diameter of 15 mm and a length of 110.250 mm is used. Based on control signal from LabVIEW, it is tested in acrylic pipe and pig's colon. The proposed robot is able to move in the curved path which has a radius of over 25 mm. The speed of the robot is 33 mm/s in a straight path and 12.1 mm/s on a vertical path. The proposed robot, which has one pneumatic line and two clamping modules, conclusively shows reliable locomotion performance under in vitro condition.