• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.141-148
• /
• 2007

Falls associated with tripping over an obstacle can be dangerous, yet little is known about the strategies used for stepping over obstacles in older Parkinson disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lower extremity muscle activity on the obstacle gait according to obstacle height in older Parkinson diseases. The obstacle gait of 7 older Parkinson disease was examined during a 5.0 m approach to, and while stepping over, obstacles of 0, 25, 52, and 152mm. Seven pairs of surface electrodes(Noraxon MyoResearch, USA) were attached to the right-hand side of the body to monitor the adductor longus(AL), gluteus medius(GME), gluteus maximus(GMA), biceps femoris(BF), rectus femoris(RF), gastrocnemius(GA), tibialis anterior(TA). Electromyography data were filtered using a 10Hz to 350 Hz Butterworth band-pass digital filter and normalized to the maximum value in the analyzed phases. A one-way ANOVA for repeated measures was employed for selected electromyography variables to analyze the differences of the height of four obstacles. The results showed significant differences between 0.0mm and 25, 52, and 152mm obstacle height in TA and GA activities during the second phase(swing phase). But the more increase obstacle height, the more not increase the muscle activities. This means that the Parkinson disease stepping over obstacle inefficiency. To prevent and reduce the frequency of falls, elderly Parkinson disease maintained and improved their balance, muscular strength, neuromuscular control and mobility.

• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.16-25
• /
• 2011

This study aimed to evaluate factors related to the ability of ambulatory patients with cerebral palsy (CP) to walk over vertical and horizontal obstacles. Twenty patients with spastic CP who were able to walk independently for at least 10 m with or without walking devices were recruited for the study. Participants were required to walk over small obstacles (1, 4, and 8 cm in height or width; total of 6 conditions). A 'fail' was recorded when either the lower limbs or the walking device contacted the obstacle. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the effects of age, sex, walking devices, eyeglasses, subtype (hemiplegia or diplegia), ankle foot orthoses, functional level, and score of body mass index on the ability of obstacle crossing. Fifteen participants (75%) failed to adequately clear the foot or walking device over obstacles in at least 1 condition. The chance of failure in crossing vertical obstacle was affected by the use of ankle foot orthoses, eyeglasses, gender, and CP subtype (p<.05). The failure rate crossing horizontal obstacle was affected by CP subtype. These findings suggest that rehabilitation procedures should (1) consider the clinical characteristics of patients in order to prepare them to be more independent while performing daily activities, and (2) incorporate environmental conditions that patients encounter at home and in the community.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.1290-1303
• /
• 2005

In this research, a remote control system has been developed and implemented, which combines autonomous obstacle avoidance in real-time with force-reflective tele-operation. A tele-operated mobile robot is controlled by a local two-degrees-of-freedom force-reflective joystick that a human operator holds while he is monitoring the screen. In the system, the force-reflective joystick transforms the relation between a mobile robot and the environment to the operator as a virtual force which is generated in the form of a new collision vector and reflected to the operator. This reflected force makes the tele-operation of a mobile robot safe from collision in an uncertain and obstacle-cluttered remote environment. A mobile robot controlled by a local operator usually takes pictures of remote environments and sends the images back to the operator over the Internet. Because of limitations of communication bandwidth and the narrow view-angles of the camera, the operator cannot observe shadow regions and curved spaces frequently. To overcome this problem, a new form of virtual force is generated along the collision vector according to both distance and approaching velocity between an obstacle and the mobile robot, which is obtained from ultrasonic sensors. This virtual force is transferred back to the two-degrees-of-freedom master joystick over the Internet to enable a human operator to feel the geometrical relation between the mobile robot and the obstacle. It is demonstrated by experiments that this haptic reflection improves the performance of a tele-operated mobile robot significantly.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.372-374
• /
• 2009

In this research, an obstacle avoidance method is proposed. The common usage of a robot is indoor and the obstacles to the indoor robot is studied. The accurate detection of direction after overcoming the obstacles is necessary for performance of autonomous navigation and mission project. The sensors such as Laser, Ultrasound, PSD can be used to measure the obstacles. In this research, a PSD sensor is used to detect obstacles. It detects the height and width of obstacles located on the floor. Before measuring the obstacles, a calibration of the sensor was done and it produced a better accuracy. We have plotted an error graph using data obtained from the repeated experiments. The graph is fitted to a polynomial curve. The polynomial equation is used for the robot navigation. And in this research, a model of the error of the direction of the robot after overcoming obstacles was obtained also. The prototype of the obstacle and the error of the direction after overcoming the obstacles are modelled using a neural networks. The input of the neural network composed with the height of the obstacles, the speed of robot, the direction of wheels and the error of the direction. To implement the suggested algorithm, we set up a robot which is operated by a notebook computer. Experiment showed the suggested algorithm performed well.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.65-71
• /
• 2008

In this paper, we propose a new driving mode control algorithm for a mobile robot based on obstacle detection. The robot has a variable geometry single-tracked mechanism, so it can maximize a contact length with ground for the adaptability to off-road and puesue a stable system due to the lower center of gravity. However this robot system embodied passive type according to operator. In this reason, several problems are detected. So, this research presents a new method of obstacle detection using PSD infrared sensors and translates the variable tracks on the best suited driving mode actively. And experimental results about mentioned are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.17-28
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study is to search for the effective way of development in managing Open Education Schools by analyzing obstacle reasons for school management of elementary school teachers on the basis of classroom site. This study researched 240 teachers and head teachers in three cities and counties of Chungbuk province through questionnaires which enquire obstacle reasons for Open Education. This research regarded 9 items including curriculum management and teaching method as main factors for consisting of Open Education School. And this analyzed the reactions from the percentages of interviewees. As a result of this analysis. obstacle reasons are as follows. 1. priority for academic background and the lack of school facilities and materials. 2. deficiency of teachers' belief in Open Education and unskilled practice. 3. closed situation in decision making and communication. 4. unreasonable management of finance and school facilities.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.26 no.3D
• /
• pp.367-374
• /
• 2006

This research revealed the operation problems of the current crossing control systems through inspecting and testing the obstacle detection systems and gate control systems for the crossings. To resolve the problems of the crossing control systems, this research developed new algorithms of four-quadrant gate system and obstacle detection systems combing the functions of rasar sensors and magnetic sensors and tested the reliability of the systems. Currently, the obstacle detection systems and gate control systems controls approaching and departing traffic by simply detecting vehicles and obstacles but do not consider traffic movements at the crossings. In addition, they do not make signal cooperation for gate controls. As a result, such inefficient crossing controls result in unsafe gate controls for drivers. Therefore, the newly developed crossing control systems through this study will provide more effective crossing control services with more strengthen information cooperation within control systems. Besides they will help to reduce train crashes at the crossings by gate control systems considering various driving behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2012

Korea Aerospace Research Institute(KARI) has accomplished the planning study for setting up the mid-long term development plan of Goheung Aviation Test Center for the extensive use. In the future the aviation center will have a role of the complex center for the flight test, component test and R&D in Korea. KARI searches the legal requirements and informations for constructing the aviation test airfield in Goheung. Aviation law describes a lot of requirements to construct an airfield and the airfield also needs runway, equipments/facilities, obstacle limitation surfaces/distances, limitation altitudes and air space etc.. In this study the research results for the obstacle limitation Surface are mainly presented relating to the existing runway and the new large-scaled runway in Goheung.

• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to compare spatio-temporal parameters during walking between patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and a control group matched for age, height, and weight. Thirty-three subjects were included in this study. Fifteen normal subjects (age, $63.3{\pm}5.8$ yrs; height, $164.1{\pm}8.7$ cm; weight, $60.7{\pm}17.5$ kg) and eighteen patients (age, $64.0{\pm}7.7$ yrs; height, $164.7{\pm}7.3$ cm; weight, $63.6{\pm}7.7$ kg) participated in the study. The Vicon 512 Motion analysis system was used for gait analysis in each group during walking, with and without an obstacle. The measured spatio-temporal parameters were cadence, walking speed, stride time, step time, single limb support time, double limb support time, stride length, and step length. Results in stride length and step length, when walking without an obstacle, showed a significantly greater decrease in the patient group compared to the control group. During walking with an obstacle, the patient group showed a significantly greater decrease in the step length as compared to the control group. For the control group, there were significant decreases in parameters of cadence and walking speed and increases in parameters of stride time, step time, and single limb support time when walking with an obstacle. The patient group had lower cadence and walking speed and higher stride time, step time, and single limb support time during walking with an obstacle than in walking without an obstacle. These results suggest that patients with Parkinson's disease who walk over an obstacle can decrease cadence, stride length, and step length. Further study is needed, performed with more obstacles and combined with other external cues, such as visual or acoustic guides.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.77-89
• /
• 2019

The solar air heater has various performances according to an obstacle installed in the air duct. Many studies on thermal performance have been conducted. But many of these studies were using a kind of rib type obstacle attached at the bottom of absorbing plate, but they are so hard to be manufactured. In this study, characteristics of the heat transfer and pressure drop in the solar air heater with various horizontal rectangular obstacles was investigated by CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis. As a result, the heat transfer performance was improved from 1.2 to 3.32 times depending on installation conditions of rectangular obstacle. The pressure drop, however, also increased with increment of heat transfer performance from 2.8 to 180 times only by changing installation conditions of rectangular obstacle. Thus, the performance factor presenting the thermal performance enhancement on the same pressure drop was also confirmed. As a result, the highest value of 0.828 as better performance factor was obtained at the lower height of rectangular obstacle and this value has started to decrease with increment of heat transfer performance. In the end, it could be confirmed that the pressure drop was carried higher than the quantity of improvement of the heat transfer performance when the heat transfer performance was increased by change of installation conditions of rectangular obstacle. Both heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop to be required for system need to be considered before the rectangular obstacles are applied to the solar air heater.