• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.132-143
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• 2017

While working in an industrial environment which requires extended periods of upright posture; workers tend to develop muscle fatigue due to the constant load on lower-limb muscles. In addition, when working while bending knees; muscle fatigue of lower back and hamstrings is increased due to the abnormal posture. This can lead to damage of muscles, induce musculoskeletal disorders, and reduce long-term working efficiency. Recent medical studies have shown that long-term working in an upright posture can induce musculoskeletal disorders such as foot fatigue, edema, pain and varicose veins. Likewise, medical and rehabilitation expenses have grown due to the increase in musculoskeletal conditions suffered by workers. For this problem, we aim to develop a device that can reduce the physical fatigue on the lower limbs by supporting the weight of workers during the extended periods of upright and bending postures in the industrial environments. In this paper, we have designed and manufactured a wearable weight support system; with a user intention algorithm that the users can maintain various postures. For validation of the developed system, we measured the muscle activity of the users wearing the system with EMG sensors.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.22-40
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• 2008

Unnatural working postures usually cause musculoskeletal problems for workers in work field, especially in traditional industry. Many analysis and survey methodologies have been developed to identify unnatural postures and disorder risks in workplaces. The Ovako Working Posture Analyzing System (OWAS) and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) are the representative methods and applied widely. This study applied the both tools to investigate the work field of a manufacturing factory of the water heater's case. We divided the manufacturing process into nine workshops, took the pictures of working motions by DV camera and analyzed the postures on OWAS. From the OW AS results, we could identify the risks level of musculoskeletal symptoms as four Action Categories (AC). And from the comparison of OWAS and NMQ results, we could provide the suggestions to improve the working methods and environment. From the results of OWAS, we found that the operators' head/neck and back were above AC3 in some workshops. If the situation continued in long period, the operators might have the risk to get musculoskeletal symptoms. From the investigation of NMQ, we also found that the percentage of aches on neck, shoulders and lower back were higher than other parts of body. The correlation between aches and jobs was more than 75%. So we provided some suggestions to improve: work rotation and adjustment of work surface/height to fit in with Ergonomics. Then the risks of musculoskeletal symptoms would be reduced.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.145-159
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• 2011

The study aimed to analyze the status quo of manufacturing work environment and the work clothes' clothing comfort and wearer mobility of welding and grinding work processes in the machine and shipbuilding industries in South Korea. A questionnaire survey was conducted for the study, which consisted of questions about work clothes' clothing comfort and wearer mobility according to body parts. The findings derived from the research were: the high impact levels of work environment factors on welding and grinding work processes were noise, metal fragment, superheat, toxic gas, UV ray factors. Subject workers' assessment of work clothes' clothing pressures were in the levels between 3 (i.e. moderate) and 4 (i.e. comfortable) in a range of 5-point scale. The impact levels of wearer mobility factor were high on the work processes of welding and grinding in machine and grinding in shipbuilding. While welding process in shipbuilding showed a 'moderate' wearer mobility level and this was because its work postures were uncomfortable yet the rate of the motion change was low. The consideration to develop the work clothes specialized for certain work processes should include the materials' protecting performance from the hazardous work environment factors; and work clothes' designs that provides workers with maximized clothing comfort and wearer mobility for bending or tilting postures of upper, lower and lateral body parts defined in the study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.443-455
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• 2012

In this research, a woman matched to the average Korean standard size specification of 21-24 years of age was scanned using Cyberware. Rapidform 2004 was used to separate the body zone into fit zone, action zone and design zone, depending on the function of the lower body. Each divided body zone expanded radially using 'offset' by 1.60mm at the cross section of the waist, and 6.36mm at the hip level. Resultant ease values were 1cm and 4cm along the waistline and hipline (respectively), as recommended in previous research. 2C-AN program and Yuka CAD was used to develop a pant pattern from the enlarged 3D body surface blocks. A total of five pants were constructed using conventional fabrics for light weight formal pants. The appearance of the experimental pants were evaluated by five clothing-major evaluators using a questionnaire that consisted of 21 questions. In addition, functional aspects of the experimental pants were also evaluated by wearer while performing five postures for the measurement of ease of movement. It was found that, the method of regional offset and suggested 3D to 2D pattern development generate reasonably good pant patterns. Among the pattern block arrangements, the method B was evaluated as the best way to generate formal pants from the tight-fit pattern, which fit smoothly over the lower body for maintaining ease of movement.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.261-278
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• 1998

The paper represented the lower extremity muscle model as four rigid-body segments: trunk, shank, and foot. We transformed their tibial data into our shank data by rotating their tibial X and Y axes by 5.483 degrees, so the revised coordinate data used to translating the origin of their tibial reference frame to our shank reference frame. According to weight of subject, physiological cross-setional area(PCSA) of each lower extremity muscle was calculated by scaling those data by Brand. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the variations of the recruitment patterns of the lower extremity muscles, and to analyze the changes of the role assigned to each muscle during the seated foot operation. For exertion levels, the transition point of type F motor unit of each muscle is inferred by analyzing the electromyogram at the seated postures. Also, for predetermined seated foot operations exertion levels, the recruitment pattern and the changes of the role assigned are identified in the continuous exertion, by analyzing the electromyogram changes due to the accumulated muscle fatigue. This study can be used to design and to assess the pedals and foot-related equipments design.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.250-260
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate muscle function and symmetry index during whole body vibration exercise using lower extremity training posture for throwing athletes. For throwing athletes in their 20s(6 males, 4 females, age: 24.60±0.92years, height: 177.90±7.40cm, weight: 92.90±22.97kg), lower extremity training postures with squat, carphrase, and lunge movements. Whole body vibration exercise training was performed using. Tensiomyography(TMG) variables Time Delay(Td), Time Contraction(Tc), Time Sustain(Ts) Time Relaxation(Tr), and Displacement Maximumal(Dm) in the lower extremity joint muscles(biceps femoris(BF), gastrocnemius lateral(GL), gastrocnemius medial(GM), rectus femoris(RF), tibialis anterior(TA), lateral vastus(LV), medial latissimus(ML)), were measured to compare and analyze muscle activity, muscle fatigue, and left-right symmetry. The results of the study are left RF, VL, right VM (p<.05) in Td, VM (p<.05) in Tc, GM in Ts (p<.05), left RF in Tr, and right TA (p<. 05) showed a change. Therefore, it has been proven that various whole-body vibration training is an effective exercise with changes in muscle contraction, and stability of the core is secured by symmetry of the left and right muscles. For this reason, the whole body vibration exercise will have a positive effect on rehabilitation training, and it is believed that it will be able to improve performance.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.41-47
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• 2017

To implement Argentina tango dancer-like walking of the humanoid robot, a new trajectory generation scheme based on particle swarm optimization of the blending polynomial is presented. Firstly, the characteristics of Argentina tango walking are derived from observation of tango dance. Secondly, these are reflected in walking pose conditions and cost functions of particle swarm optimization to determine the coefficients of blending polynomial. For the stability of biped walking, zero moment point and reference trajectory of swing foot are also included in cost function. Thirdly, after tango walking cycle is divided into 3 stages with 2 postures, optimal trajectories of ankles, knees and hip of lower body, which include 6 sagittal and 4 coronal angles, are derived in consequence of optimization. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed scheme is validated by simulating biped walking of humanoid robot with derived trajectories under the 3D Simscape environment.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2016

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop a farming shovel to reduce workload, which helps farmers lower the risk of musculoskeletal disease. Background: Most of work using farming tools including shovels requires repetitive works and awkward postures on body parts, and it could possibly cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders. It is necessary to develop and distribute farm equipment and tools in order to reduce physical workload. Method: To improve the most uncomfortable task perceived by ten farmers during the work with a shovel, the improved shovel was designed and made as a prototype for experiment for the comparison of the existing and improved shovels. Twenty males were recruited for this experiment, and muscle activity (%MVC) of six body parts and subjective discomfort ratings by body parts while working with a shovel were measured. A paired t-test was performed to compare physical workload between the existing shovel and the developed one. Results: A shovel applying foothold tied between shaft and blade was designed, which can help workers reduce repetitive bending of back and pressures for upper limbs while digging soil. According to compared evaluation of the developed shovel and the existing shovel, the developed shovel's %MVCs in all experimental muscles were significantly lower than those of the existing shovel. The developed shovel showed the biggest drop in perceived subjective discomfort rating of back, followed by arm and neck, compared to the existing shovel. Conclusion: It was confirmed that attaching a foothold to a shovel was an effective way of reducing workload in back and upper limbs during digging. Application: In the near future, if we put the prototype of developed shovel to practical use after making up for defects, it will help farm work environment be healthier and safer.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.402-409
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• 2019

Patients with dementia or elderly patients who can not move at all by themselves are at a high risk of falls and bedsore due to lack of caregivers. In this paper, to solve this problem, we propose an algorithm to determine the patient's lying postures by discriminating the main body parts such as head, shoulders, and hips based on the pressure intensity sensed at regular intervals. A smart mat with a lattice structure in which a pressure sensor is arranged so that the body part can be discriminated irrespective of the physical characteristics has been implemented. It consists of two modules of $7{\times}7$ array size. Each module consists of 49 FSR-406 sensors and independently senses pressure. For each module, the body part corresponding to the upper body or the lower body is sequentially discriminated by using a pressure distribution such as a cumulative pressure sum using a filter. The proposed algorithm can identify five lying positions by examining the inclusion relationship between body parts belonging to layer-1 such as head, shoulder, and hip area.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.105-108
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• 2013

Drivers' sitting strategies are considered in car seat design. Existing research has identified representative sitting strategies by visual inspection of seating pressure measurements collected from a small sample size of drivers. The present study recruited 20 female and 20 male participants, measured seating pressure, and classified sitting strategies by cluster analysis. The participants' sitting postures were classified based on seating pressure distribution into mid-back and scapular, mid-back and lumbar, and lumbar sitting strategies for the upper body and hip concentrated, hip and mid-thigh concentrated, and hip and mid-thigh distributed sitting strategies for the lower body. The effects of gender and occupant package layout (OPL) on sitting strategy were nout found significant. The identified sitting strategies would be of use for the design and evaluation of an OPL and a seat.