• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.169-175
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• 2000

Stable and comfortable walking supports, which can reduce the body weight load partially, are needed for the recovering patients from neurologic disease and orthopedic procedures. In this paper, the development of a manipulator of rehabilitation robot for the patients with walking disabilities are studied. A force controller using pneumatic actuators is designed and implemented to the human friendly rehabilitation robot considering the safety of patients, reliability of the system, effectiveness of the unloading control and economic maintenance of the system. The mechanism of the unloading manipulator is devised to improve the sensibility for the movement of the patients such as direction and velocity. For the unloading force control, fuzzy control algorithm is adopted to reduce the partial body weight and suppress the unwanted fluctuation of the body weight load to the weak legs due to the unnatural working of the patients with walking disabilities. The effectiveness of the force control is experimentally demonstrated.

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

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.632-637
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• 2017

Even though the potential for an accident in nuclear power plants is very low, multiple emergency plans are necessary because the impact of such an accident to the public is enormous. One of these emergency plans involves a robotic system for investigating accidents under conditions of high radiation and contaminated air. To develop a robot suitable for operation in a nuclear power plant, we focused on eliminating the three major obstacles that challenge robots in such conditions: the disconnection of radio communication, falling on uneven floors, and loss of localization. To solve the radio problem, a Wi-Fi extender was used in radio shadow areas. To reinforce the walking, we developed two- and four-leg convertible walking, a floor adaptive foot, a roly-poly defensive falling design, and automatic standing recovery after falling methods were developed. To allow the robot to determine its location in the containment building, a bar code landmark reading method was chosen. When a severe accident occurs, this robot will be useful for accident condition monitoring. We also anticipate the robot can serve as a workman aid in a high radiation area during normal operations.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.2271-2274
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• 2005

The desired ZMP is different from the actual ZMP of a humanoid robot during actual walking and stand upright. A humanoid robot must maintain its stable posture although external force is given to the robot. A humanoid robot can know its stability with ZMP. Actual ZMP may be moved out of the foot-print polygons by external disturbance or uneven ground surfaces. If the position of ZMP moves out of stable region, the stability can not be guaranteed. Therefore, The control of the ZMP is necessary. In this paper, ZMP control algorithm is proposed. Herein, the ZMP control uses difference between desired ZMP and actual ZMP. The proposed algorithm gives reaction moment with ankle joint when external force is supplied. 3D simulator shows motion of a humanoid robot and calculated data.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2015

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of balance training on different support surface (affected and non-affected sides) on the balance and gait function of chronic stroke patients. METHODS: The patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. Group 1 received balance training on the stable surface, group 2 received balance training on the unstable surface, group 3 received balance training on different support surface (affected side: stable surface, non-affected side: unstable surface), and group 4 received balance training on different support surface (affected side: unstable, non-affected side: stable). Twelve sessions (30 min/d, 3 times/wk for 4 wk) were applied. There were assessed before and after the intervention with Balancia, functional reach test (FRT), lateral reach test (LRT), timed up-and-go (TUG), and 10-meter walking test (10MWT). RESULTS: After the training, all of the groups improved significantly than before training in Balancia, FRT, LRT, TUG, and 10MWT. There were significantly variable in sway distance, FRT, LRT, TUG, and 10MWT among the 4 groups. Post hoc analysis revealed that the group 3 had significantly higher results than other 3 groups in sway distance, and FRT, LRT, TUG, and 10MWT. CONCLUSION: Balance training on different support surface (affected side: stable surface, non-affected side: unstable surface) could facilitate a stronger beneficial effect on balance and walking ability than other balance trainings on different support surface in patients with stroke.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.102 no.4
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• pp.530-536
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• 2013

This study aimed to analyze and compare results from psychological relaxations by using profile of mood state (POMS) and Malondialdehyde (MDA) level as a scale of oxidative damage before and after walking in the forest and on the street. 29 participations (15 men and 14 women) walked in the forest and on the street for 30 minutes of each for two days. The participations filled a questionnaire for POMS and conducted an heart rate variability test, oxidative damage test (MDA as biological marker through a urine test) before and after walking. To compare the psychological states after walking in the two difference places, walking in the forest showed statistically more meaningful results in the section of tension, depression, anger, fatigue, confuse and total mood disturbance (p<0.01) than walking on the street. According to the MDA results, a concentration of MDA showed significant increase after walking on the street (p=0.014). On the contrary to this, a concentration of MDA tended to decrease after walking in the forest (p=0.076). The study showed that the psychological states were more stable and oxidative damages were more decreasing after walking in the forest than walking on the street. In the conclusion, MDA would be biological indicator for assessing the effect of alleviation on the oxidative stress after walking in the forest.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.170-177
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• 2019

In this paper, three theories for improving the stability of quadruped robot are presented. First, the Minimum-Jerk Trajectory is used to optimize the leg trajectory. Second, we compare the newly proposed sine wave and the conventional LSM in this paper based on the Jerk value. Third, we calculate the optimum stride of the sway through repetitive robot simulation using ADAMS-MATLAB cosimulation. Through the above process, the improvement of the robot walking is compared with the existing theory. First, the average gradient of the point where the leg trajectory changes rapidly was reduced from at least 1.2 to 2.9 by using the Minimum-Jerk targetory for the movement of the body and the end of the leg during the first walk, thereby increasing the walking stability. Second, the average Jerk was reduced by 0.019 on the Z-axis, 0.457 on the X-axis, and 0.02, 3D on the Y-axis by 0.479 using the Sin wave type sways presented in this paper, rather than the LSM(Longitude Stability Margin) method. Third, the length of the optimal stride for walking at least the Jerk value was derived from the above analysis, and the 20cm width length was the most stable.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.249-257
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• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the effects of additional trunk exercises on an unstable surface on the balance and walking ability of individuals with chronic stroke. Methods: Sixteen patients with chronic stroke participated in this study. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental group (n=8) and control group (n=8). All the participants underwent a typical physical therapy program for 30 min a day. Moreover, the experimental group participated in a 30 min trunk exercise program on an unstable surface, whereas the control group participated in a 30 min trunk exercise program on a stable surface. Both groups performed the exercises five times a week for three weeks. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was used to measure changes in balance. The gait variables were measured using the GAITRite system (CIR System Inc., Clifton, NJ, USA) to examine changes in walking ability. Results: Both groups showed a significant intragroup improvement in balance, gait speed, cadence, stride length, and double support period (p<0.05). In the intergroup comparisons after the intervention, the experimental group showed significant improvements over the control group in balance, gait speed, cadence, stride length, and double support period (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study applied additional trunk exercises on an unstable surface to chronic stroke patients, and the results showed a significant improvement in the patients' balance and walking abilities. Therefore, trunk exercise on an unstable surface may be applicable as an intervention method to improve the balance and walking ability of chronic stroke patients.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.261-268
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose the algorithm that improves the linearity of the walking assistant robot on lateral slopes. The walking assistant robot goes out of the course due to the rotational moment which is caused by the weight of the robot and the slope. To compensate this, we give the weight to each driving axle after comparing the real rotational angular velocity with the target rotational angular velocity which is entered by an user. The results of applying the algorithm to the real walking assistant robot show that the yaw axis deviation of the robot without the algorithm diverges, but the yaw axis deviation of the robot with the algorithm lies within 20cm, which can be recognized as stable. In addition, the changing rate of the course deviation is stabilized and shows no more course deviation, after moving 300cm.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.1210-1216
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• 2004

This paper deals with a human-like gait generation of a biped robot with a balancing weight of an inverted pendulum type by using genetic algorithm. The ZMP (Zero Moment Point) is the most important index in a biped robot's dynamic walking stability. To perform a stable walking of a biped robot, a balancing motion is required according to legs' trajectories and a desired ZMP trajectory. A dynamic equation of the balancing motion is nonlinear due to an inverted pendulum type's balancing weight. To solve the nonlinear equation by the FDM (Finite Difference Method), a linearized model of equation is proposed. And GA (Genetic Algorithm) is applied to optimize a human-like balancing motion of a biped robot. By genetic algorithm, the index of the balancing motion is efficiently optimized, and a dynamic walking stability is verified by the ZMP verification equation. These balancing motion are simulated and experimented with a real biped robot IWR-IV. This human-like gait generation will be applied to a humanoid robot, at future work.