• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.308-319
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• 2005

Piezo-ceramics are special materials which transform energy between mechanical and electrical forms. Bender-elements are composite materials consisting of thin piezo-ceramics and elastic shims, and are widely used as actuators and transducers in the field of electronics, robotics, autos and mechatronics utilizing the effectiveness of energy transformation capability. In geotechnical engineering, commercial bender-elements are used in laboratory as source and receiver in the measurements of soil stiffness. The elements were built by using various metal shims sandwiched between piezo-ceramics and coating over the composite in the research. A pair of elements were buried in a concrete block and used as source and receiver to measure the stiffness of the concrete. The test results were verified by comparing with the resonant column testing results. In a preliminary stage of the development of an in-situ seismic testing equipment using bender-elements for soft clay materials, shear waves were generated and measured by burying the elements in the barrel of kaolinite and water mixture. The measured shear wave signals were so distinct for the first-arrival pick that applicability of the elements in the field measurements is very promising.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.248-251
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• 1995

Nowadays, the internal images of a human body can be easily provided by the ultrasound imaging, the X-ray CT, or the MRI device, among which the ultrasound imaging device has good resolution for soft tissues of a human body compared with the other devices. Furthermore, the use of ultrasound imaging devices will increase in future especially in the obstetrics, territory, since it does not give harm to the human body. Although several techniques have been investigated until now in order to extract organs from ultrasound images, very few of them have achieved satisfactory results because of low contrast and high noise nature of images. This paper proposes a technique for automatic extraction of the gall bladder area from ultrasound images. The proposed technique first extracts a small reliable area of a gall bladder from an ultrasound image employing smoothing, binarization, expanding and shrinking, and labeling, and then expands the area referring to the binarized version of the original image. The technique is examined its performance by real ultrasound images of a gall bladder and satisfactory results are obtained. Some problems to be solved are discussed finally.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.60-69
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• 2010

Lookup-Table (LUT) based fuzzy controller for obstacle avoidance enhances operations faster in multiple obstacles environment. An LUT based fuzzy controller with Positive/Negative (P/N) fuzzy rule base consisting of 18 rules was introduced in our paper$^1$ and this paper shows a 50-rule P/N fuzzy controller for enhancing performance in obstacle avoidance. As a rule, the more rules are necessary, the more buffers are required. This paper suggests LUT sharing method in order to reduce LUT buffer size without significant degradation of performance. The LUT sharing method makes buffer size independent of the whole fuzzy system's complexity. Simulation using MSRDS(MicroSoft Robotics Developer Studio) evaluates the proposed method, and in order to investigate its performance, experiments are carried out to Pioneer P3-DX in the LabVIEW environment. The simulation and experiments show little difference between the fully valued LUT-based method and the LUT sharing method in operation times. On the other hand, LUT sharing method reduced its buffer size by about 95% of full valued LUT-based design.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.223-231
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• 2019

The properties of Electroactive Polymer (EAP) materials are attracting the attention of engineers and scientists from many different disciplines. From the point-of-view of robotics, Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC) belong to the most developed group of the EAP class. To allow effective design of IPMC-actuated mechanisms with large induced strains, it is necessary to have adequate analytical tools for predicting the behavior of IPMC actuators as well as simulating their response as part of prototyping methodologies. This paper presents a novel IPMC motor construction. To simulate the bending behavior that is the dominant phenomenon of motor movement process, a nonlinear model is used. To accomplish the motor design, the IPMC model was identified via a series of experiments. In the proposed model, the curvature output and current transient fields accurately track the measured responses, which is verified by measurements. In this research, a three-dimensional Finite Element Method (FEM) model of the IPMC motor, composed of IPMC actuators, simultaneously determines the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the device and achieves reliable analysis results. The principle of the proposed drive and the output signals are illustrated in this paper. The proposed modelling approach can be used to design a variety of controllers and motors for effective micro-robotic applications, where soft and complex motion are required.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.25-34
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• 2018

In this paper, we review the latest technical progress and commercialization of stretchable interconnectors, stretchable strain sensors, and stretchable substrates for stretchable electronics. The development of stretchable electronics can pave a way for new applications such as wearable devices, bio-integrated devices, healthcare and monitoring, and soft robotics. The essential components of stretchable electronic devices are stretchable interconnector and stretchable substrate. Stretchable interconnector should have high stretchability and high electrical conductivity as well as stability under severe mechanical deformation. Therefore several nanocomposite-based materials using CNT, graphene, nanowire, and metal flake have been developed. Geometric engineering such as wavy, serpentine, buckled and mesh structure has been well developed. Stretchable substrate should also pose high stretchability and compatibility with stretchable sensing or interconnecting material. We summarize the recent research results of new materials for stretchable interconnector and substrate as well as strain sensors. The Important challenges in development of the stretchable interconnector and substrate are also briefly discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2013

'Multi-scale mass-deployable cooperative robots' is a next generation robotics paradigm where a large number of robots that vary in size cooperate in a hierarchical fashion to collect information in various environments. While this paradigm can exhibit the effective solution for exploration of the wide area consisting of various types of terrain, its technical maturity is still in its infant state and many technical hurdles should be resolved to realize this paradigm. In this paper, we propose to develop new design and manufacturing methodologies for the multi-scale mass-deployable cooperative robots. In doing so, we present various fundamental technologies in four different research fields. (1) Adaptable design methods consist of compliant mechanisms and hierarchical structures which provide robots with a unified way to overcome various and irregular terrains. (2) Soft composite materials realize the compliancy in these structures. (3) Multi-scale integrative manufacturing techniques are convergence of traditional methods for producing various sized robots assembled by such materials. Finally, (4) the control and communication techniques for the massive swarm robot systems enable multiple functionally simple robots to accomplish the complex job by effective job distribution.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.1435-1439
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• 2004

Most recently, CP(Cellular Phone) has been one of the most important technologies in the IT(Information Tech-nology) field, and it is situated in a position of great importance industrially and economically. To produce the best CP in the world, a new technological concept and its advanced implementation technique is required, due to the extreme level of competition in the world market. The RT(Robot Technology) has been developed as the next generation of a future technology. Current robots require advanced technology, such as soft computing, human-friendly interface, interaction technique, speech recognition, object recognition etc. unlike the industrial robots of the past. Therefore, this paper explains conceptual research for development of the RCP(Robotic Cellular Phone), a new technological concept, in which a synergy effect is generated by the merging of IT & RT. RCP infra consists of $RCP^{Mobility}$ $RCP^{Interaction}$, $RCP^{Integration}$ technologies. For $RCP^{Mobility}$, human-friendly motion automation and personal service with walking and arming ability are developed. $RCP^{Interaction}$ ability is achieved by modeling an emotion-generating engine and $RCP^{Integration}$ that recognizes environmental and self conditions is developed. By joining intelligent algorithms and CP communication network with the three base modules, a RCP system is constructed. Especially, the RCP mobility system is focused in this paper. $RCP^{Mobility}$ is to apply a mobility technology, which is popular robot technology, to CP and combine human-friendly motion and navigation function to CP. It develops a new technological application system of auto-charging and real-world entertainment function etc. This technology can make a CP companion pet robot. It is an automation of human-friendly motions such as opening and closing of CPs, rotation of antenna, manipulation and wheel-walking. It's target is the implementation of wheel and manipulator functions that can give service to humans with human-friendly motion. So, this paper presents the definition, the basic theory and experiment results of the RCP mobility system. We confirm a good performance of the RCP mobility system through the experiment results.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.248-251
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• 2011

Objective : In the field of spinal surgery, a few laboratory results or clinical cases about robotic spinal surgery have been reported. In vivo trials and development of related surgical instruments for spinal surgery are required before its clinical application. We investigated the use of the da $Vinci^{(R)}$ Surgical System in spinal surgery at the craniovertebral junction in a human cadaver to demonstrate the efficacy and pitfalls of robotic surgery. Methods : Dissection of pharyngeal wall to the exposure of C1 and odontoid process was performed with full robotic procedure. Although assistance of another surgeon was necessary for drilling and removal of odontoid process due to the lack of appropriate end-effectors, successful robotic procedures for dural sutures and exposing spinal cord proved its safety and dexterity. Results : Robot-assisted odontoidectomy was successfully performed in a human cadaver using the da $Vinci^{(R)}$ Surgical System with few robotic arm collisions and minimal soft tissue damages. Da $Vinci^{(R)}$ Surgical System manifested more dexterous movement than human hands in the deep and narrow oral cavity. Furthermore, sutures with robotic procedure in the oral cavity demonstrated the advantage over conventional procedure. Conclusion : Presenting cadaveric study proved the probability of robot-assisted transoral approach. However, the development of robotic instruments specific to spinal surgery must first precede its clinical application.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.457-462
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• 2005

Industrial and economical importance of CP(Cellular Phone) is growing rapidly. Combined with IT technology, CP is currently one of the most attractive technologies for all. However, unless we find a breakthrough to the technology, its growth may slow down soon. RT(Robot Technology) is considered one of the most promising next generation technology. Unlike the industrial robot of the past, today's robots require advanced technologies, such as soft computing, human-friendly interface, interaction technique, speech recognition, object recognition, and many others. In this study, we present a new technological concept named RCP(Robotic Cellular Phone), which combines RT & CP, in the vision of opening a new direction to the advance of CP, IT, and RT all together. RCP consists of 3 sub-modules. They are $RCP^{Mobility}$, $RCP^{Interaction}$, and $RCP^{Interaction}$. $RCP^{Mobility}$ is the main focus of this paper. It is an autonomous navigation system that combines RT mobility with CP. Through $RCP^{Mobility}$, we should be able to provide CP with robotic functionalities such as auto-charging and real-world robotic entertainments. Eventually, CP may become a robotic pet to the human being. $RCP^{Mobility}$ consists of various controllers. Two of the main controllers are trajectory controller and self-localization controller. While Trajectory Controller is responsible for the wheel-based navigation of RCP, Self-Localization Controller provides localization information of the moving RCP. With the coordinate information acquired from RFID-based self-localization controller, Trajectory Controller refines RCP's movement to achieve better RCP navigations. In this paper, a prototype system we developed for $RCP^{Mobility}$ is presented. We describe overall structure of the system and provide experimental results of the RCP navigation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.215-223
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• 2005

Piezo-ceramics are special materials which transform energy from mechanical to electrical forms and vice versa. Bender elements are composite materials consisting of thin piezo-ceramics and elastic shims, and are widely used as actuators and transducers in the field of electronics, robotics, autos and mechatronics utilizing the effectiveness of energy transformation capability. In geotechnical engineering, commercial bender elements are used in laboratory as source and receiver in the measurements of soil stiffness. The elements were built by using various metal shims sandwiched between piezo-ceramics and coating over the composite in the research. A pair of elements were buried in a concrete block and used as source and receiver to measure the stiffness of the concrete. The test results were verified by comparing with the resonant column testing results. In a preliminary stage of the development of an in-situ seismic testing equipment using bender elements for soft clay materials, shear waves were generated and measured by burying the elements in the barrel of kaolinite and water mixture. The measured shear wave signals were so distinct for the first-arrival pick that applicability of the elements in the field measurements could be very promising.