• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.286-293
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• 2007

For safe walking of the people who are blind, walking assistance robot which can detecting and avoiding the obstacle was investigated. The implemented prototype walking assistance robot consists of a obstacle detecting module, a user interface using acoustic signal and a driving module. The obstacle detecting module uses 6 ultrasonic sensors those located at the front part of the robot can perceive the obstacle which is in 3 meter distances and $180^{\circ}$ degrees. It calculates the distance and degree from the obstacle using TOF (time of flight) method and decides the 3-dimensional location of the obstacle. The obstacle information is delivered to the user using acoustic alarm and guide sound. The robot is designed to avoid by itself when the obstacle is detecting and the user only follows it to safe walking. After the designed robot was implemented, driving and obstacle detecting experiments were carried out. The result showed that the designed walking assistance robot will help the people who are blind to walk around safe.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.112-119
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• 2023

This study analyzes the effects of personal lockers, drinking fountains, and all-in-one shutters (hereinafter referred to as "corridor walking obstacles") on evacuation safety to suggest the necessity of operating a more effective educational facility safety certification system. To achieve this purpose, the five-story high school building with the obstacles installed in the corridor has been chosen, and evacuation tests through the Pathfinder Simulation Program have been carried out. When the evacuation exit is designated in the current state, where the students are placed on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors and the corridor walking obstacles are applied as a variable, the required safe egress time (RSET) is 322 seconds. This can lead to dangerous results in the event of a disaster by exceeding the available safe egress time (ASET) standard of 240 seconds by 82 seconds. When students are placed on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors under the same conditions, the RSET is 214.5 seconds, 25.5 seconds lower than the ASET standard, indicating that it is effective in reducing the impact of walking obstacles on evacuation time. The safety management plan for walking obstacles in the corridors is discussed, considering the special characteristics of the school corridors. The results of this study can be used as the necessary data for optimizing evacuation routes in corridors and creating a safe, educational environment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2013

As car-oriented road policies have been made forward so far, relatively pedestrians' walking conditions are so in poor environments that more than two thousand pedestrians die from car accidents every year. Pedestrians' walking right has been severely invaded like that. Pedestrians' walking right is a right that people are able to walk safely and comfortably in pleasant surroundings as long as they don't threaten the public safety, order maintenance, and welfare. The government has an obligation to provide safe, comfortable, and pleasant environments to pedestrians. Recently interests in pedestrians' safety are increasing, government-driven supports have been made to make safe, pleasant, and healthy walking surroundings. As poor walking condition improvement projects cost high, they should be progressed to accomplish maximal effects using finite finances efficiently, and post feasibility evaluations of the projects should be severely estimated. However site selecting indicators which satisfy with the goal for composing safe working surroundings have not been decided yet, though currently it has a legal basis to specify walking condition improvement sites by the Law for Pedestrians' safety and Comfort Increasement. Therefore this study focuses on suggesting improved ways for selecting sites where pedestrians' safe environment project by reviewing previous research. When project sites are selected, evaluation indicators related to awareness survey of residents and history should be excluded, and disaster safety assessments for walking safety facilities, latent human hazards and natural disasters like a strong wind are proposed besides evaluations on pedestrians' safety and walking environment for matching with the purpose of the project to make safe working surroundings.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.190-198
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• 2020

The development in smartphone technology has brought convenience to the life of the mankind, but an excessive use of smartphones sometimes causes various accidents. This research tried to propose an application service 'Smombie Safe Go' UI(User Interface) that allows the prevention of such accident while using smartphones when walking. For this, after research and user observations, produced walker journey maps and derived necessary main functions needed for safety, and the result showed that transparent interface, obstacle location alert, warning of dangers functions were necessary. To make the contents of the service more detailed, hazardous situations faced during smartphone use when walking were classified into 3 situations : 1. Obstacle appearing in front, 2. traffic lights on crosswalks 3. No traffic lights on crosswalks. Scenarios by hazardous situation were written, and the flow and UI of the app service that warns its users in each situation of hazards were designed. it is predicted that 'Smombie Safe Go' may be possible to be utilized as an app service that provides a safe walking experience for not only regular pedestrians but also the blind population.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.783-789
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• 2007

In this paper, firstly, we propose a generating method of the 3-D obstacle map using ultrasonic sensors. Secondly, we try to find the necessary stimulation conditions of compact tactile display device for effective transfer of obstacle information. The final goal of this research is the development of a walking guide system for the blind to walk safely. The walking guide system consists of a guide vehicle for the obstacle detection and a tactile display device for the transfer of the obstacle information. The guide vehicle, located in front of the walking blind, detects the obstacle using ultrasonic sensors. The processed information makes an obstacle map and transmits safe path and emergency situation to the blind by the tactile display. The tactile display device, located in the handle which is connected with the guide vehicle by cane, offers the processed obstacle information such as position, size, moving, shape of obstacle and safe path, etc. The concept of a walking guide system with tactile display is introduced, and experiments of 3-D obstacle detection and tactile perception are carried out and analyzed.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.88-95
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• 2020

In this paper, we propose a new arm swing walking pattern-based walking safety system for safe walking of elderly pedestrians. The proposed system is a walking safety system for elderly pedestrians using haptic-based devices such as smart bands and smart watches, and arm swing-based walking patterns to solve the problem that it is difficult to recognize the fall situation of pedestrians with the existing walking patterns of lower limb movements. Use. The arm swing-based walking pattern recognizes the number of steps and the fall situation of pedestrians through the swing of the arm using the acceleration sensor of the device, and creates a database of the location of the fall situation to warn elderly pedestrians when walking near the expected fall location. It delivers a message to provide pedestrian safety to the elderly. This system is expected to improve the safe walking rights and environment of the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2007

Walking is not only an essential component of the human mobility, but also is a good exercise. Inability to walk freely can reduce an individual's quality of life and independence substantially. Being a relatively low impact activity, walking is particularly good for the elderly and research has shown that regular walking in the elderly reduces the chance of fall-related injuries and mental diseases as well. In spite of the documented benefits of regular walking, it is still difficult to walk without the aid of assistive devices for the frail elderly who have lower extremity problems. Assistive walking devices(AWD), such as crutches, canes, hiking-poles, T-Poles and walkers, are often prescribed to the elderly to make their walking be safe and efficient. Many researchers have demonstrated the effects of AWDs such as reducing lower extremity loading, improved dynamic/gait stability, yet, no study has been done for gait pattern when the elderly gait with AWDs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether T-Poles, one of the AWDs, change the elderly gait pattern. Eight community-dwelling female elderly participated in this study. Laboratory kinematics during walking with T-Poles(PW) and with out T-Poles(NPW) was assessed. PW showed significant increase in step width, stride length, gait velocity and decrease in swing time. No significances were found in lower body joint angles but meaningful trend and pattern were found. Maybe the reason was due to the participants. Our participants were healthy enough so that the effect of T-Poles was minimum. PW also showed typical gait phases which are no single support phase during a gait cycle. It indicates that walking with T-Poles may guarantee safe and confident walking to the frail elderly.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2019

In this paper, we propose iZone system for safe walking of children. The proposed system recognizes the state that a child is down a roadway as a dangerous situation. And then it informs the surrounding adults and guardians of the child in the event of a dangerous situation. The iZone system consists of the iZone device that attaches to a child's bag or clothing, the iZone app for children, the iZone server, and external beacons. The proposed system uses the ultrasonic sensor of the iZone device and the GPS coordinates and external beacons information by the children's smartphone to determine the dangerous situation. The proposed system uses external beacons to calibrate the GPS coordinates. Moreover, it determines whether the child is down the roadway in sidewalk by measuring the height difference between the roadway and the sidewalk using ultrasonic sensor.

• Proceedings of the Society of Korea Industrial and System Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.273-278
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• 2002

Modern society is an interaction between many different environments. It is important to the mutual relationships between people and especially between people and the environment. One of the mutual relationships between people and the environment is the traffic system, especially the traffic signals which give priority to pedestrian and traffic flow. Traffic signals for the pedestrian on the crosswalk contribute to a safe road environment for the pedestrian, while the traffic signals for the pedestrian running for the flickering of the green signal causes psychological stress. Therefore, this study investigated whether the walking velocity was influenced by the flickering of the green signal or not. Also, this study investigated whether the walking distance had an effect on the walking velocity of the elderly pedestrian or not. It was proved that the flickering of the green signal and the walking distance influenced the walking velocity and subjective sensitiveness according to the result of this study.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.725-730
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• 2004

This paper has regarded mechanism design of cane-like passive type walking aid for the elderly using 3-RPS parallel manipulator. First, gait patterns of the elderly have been experimented. By means of motion capturing and image processing, we decided loaded forces and places of the cane when the elderly walked with a cane. Using these results we have developed a passive type walking aid. Second, the walking pattern has been simulated using dynamic analysis program, ADAMS and we find out the similarity between the real walking and the simulated walking. Finally after assuring the similarity, with adjusting the new mechanism design to the simulated walking we will decide whether the walking aid is safe and stable when the elderly walks with this cane-like walking aid. This paper will be basis for the development of the mechanism design applying 3-RPS parallel manipulator.