• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of walking aid on hemiplegic gait of chronic stroke patients. Twelve stroke patients participated in this study. Physiological cost index (PCI), gait speed, and climbing stairs with and without walking aid were measured and analyzed. The results showed that walking with walking aid significantly improved gait speed and reduced physiological cost index and time needed to climb stair (height 7 cm) in comparison with a walking without walking aid. In conclusion, walking aid may improve the speed and efficiency of hemiplegic gait in chronic stroke patients.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.73-79
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• 2015

PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the impact of the location of a walker-aid pocket that is attached to the walker while walking. METHODS: The research subjects included 10 male adults and 10 elderly people. The subjects used a two-wheeled walker for the walking analysis, and a firm velcro-type pocket that can be attached to the walker aid was used for weight loading. The size of the external loads was set at 2kg, which corresponds to approximately 2.5% of the mean body weight of the subjects. The pocket was attached to the left, center, and right sides of the walker aid. Stride length, stride, step width, and time were investigated according to the location change. RESULTS: No statistical differences were observed in all the walking factors among the adults and elderly people regardless of the changes in the location of the walker pocket. In cases of no weight and the 2kg walker pocket, stride length and strides were longer for the adults, while the step width was greater and walking time was longer for the elderly people. CONCLUSION: The weight of the walker pocket turn out to retard walking speed, although the location of the walker pocket is not affect walking with the walker-aid.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.692-699
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• 2008

This paper describes optimal operation method using recognition of walker's will for a robotic walker. Recently, walking aid system has been required according to the increase of elder and handicapped person. However, most of walking aid system don't have actuator for its movement. Unfortunately, standard frames have weakness for the movement to upward/download direction of slope. So, active type walking aids are interested, but it is not easy to control. In this paper, we adapt user's will system that can recognize walking direction and speed. First, FSR(Force Sensing Register) is applied to measure user's will to walk. And then, fuzzy algorithm is used for determining optimal wheel velocity and direction of the walking aid. From the result, walking aid can move smoothly and safely following the user's will. The walking aid can help user to walk more optimally. Here, all the processes are verified experimentally in the real world.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.371-376
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to develop a walking assistance system with mobility support and life support functions so that the elderly with reduced physical ability and patients who are uncomfortable when moving can move comfortably indoors and outdoors, and help social life. An obstacle recognition sensor module that can be applied indoors and outdoors is installed on a lightweight walking aid. The purpose of this study is to develop a walking assistance system with mobility support and life support functions so that the elderly with reduced physical ability and patients who are uncomfortable when moving can move comfortably indoors and outdoors, and help social life. An obstacle recognition sensor module that can be applied indoors and outdoors is installed on a lightweight walking aid. It is a system structure of an integrated actuator and brake system that can avoid obstacles in consideration of the safety of the elderly and is easy to install on the device. In this paper, the design of a lightweight walking aid was designed to increase the convenience of the socially disadvantaged and the elderly with reduced exercise ability. In addition, in order to overcome the disadvantage of being inconvenient to use indoors due to the noise and vibration of the motor during operation, an In-Wheel type motor is applied to develop and apply a low noise, low vibration and high efficiency drive system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2011

This paper presents the vibration reduction algorithm at the walking-will recognition sensors on the uneven terrain. Recently, concern about walking assistant aids is increasing according to the increase in population of elder and handicapped person. However, most of walking aids don't have any actuators for its movement. So, general walking aids have weakness for its movement to upward/download direction of slope. To overcome the weakness of the general walking aids, many researches for active type walking aids are being progressed. Especially, vibration analysis and impulse reduction are one of the important elements of the active-type walking aid during moving on the outdoor area because the ground has many kinds of obstacles such as speed dumps, puddles and so on. So, we analyze the influence from vibration by uneven terrain. And then, we propose the impulse reduction algorithm to overcome the vibration. All the processes are verified experimentally in an active-type walking aid.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to find the effects of using aid in enhancing walking ability inpatients with spinal cord injury who have received rehabilitative care. The study population consisted of 24 spinal cord injury patients referred to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in the National Rehabilitation Center (NRC). All subjects were ambulatory with or without an assistive devices. All of the participants were assessed on SCIM II, WISCI II, FIM, MBI, gait speed (m/s), and walking endurance (120 min/m). The data were analyzed using a paired t-test, a one-way ANOVA, and a Duncan test. The results revealed that TSCIM II and all of the items of SCIM II of the cervical ASIA D group patients were higher than those of the Thoracic ASIA A and C group patients (p<.05). The FIM, MBI, and WISCI II of the cervical ASIA D group patients were higher than those of the Thoracic ASIA C group patients (p>.05). The walking velocities of the lumbar ASIA C group patients were higher than those of Thoracic ASIA A group patients (p<.05). The walking endurance of the lumbar ASIA C group patients was higher than that of the thoracic ASIA C group patients (p<.05). The ASIA D group patients used bilateral standard canes or crutches, but none used AFO. The ASIA A and C group patients used bilateral standard walkers with KAFO for standing and walking. The findings suggest that injury level as well as the functionality of walking aids should be considered when formulating a rehabilitative plan for patients with spinal cord injury.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.32.2-32
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• 2001

We have developed the power assistive leg called HAL (Hybrid Assistive Leg) which provide the walking aid for walking disorder persons or aged persons without nursing person. We developed HAL-3 by considering some problems of HAL-1,2 which had developed previously. The mechanism of HAL-3 actuator could be simplified and sophisticated by using the harmonic drive. As the control signal of HAL-3 EMG signal was used. We proposed a calibration method to identify parameters which relates the EMG to joint torque by using HAL-3. We could obtain suitable torque estimated by EMG and realize power assist in walking according to the intention of the operator To the remove discomfort for quick motion power assist, the feedforward controller was installed at the beginning of motion ...

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2016

This paper presents a sensor-based cane mechanism for walking aid of the visually impaired person. We also describe an approach to decide properly the length of the specified cane mechanism. The cane mechanism has some sensors to identify the possibility of a collision between the cane user and an object and/or a person, and a signal processing unit that enables the user to recognize such a collision is attached in the mechanism. Thus, the walker using this cane can recognize in advance the possibility of such a collision in his walking process. Consequently, it is helpful for the visually impaired person to walk on a pedestrian road safely. The feature of the proposed cane mechanism and its availability have been shown through experimental works in a typical walking environment.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.162-169
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• 2010

This paper deals with the recognition algorithm of walking will based on torque estimation. Recently, concern about walking assistant aids is increasing according to the increase in population of elder and handicapped person. However, most of walking aids don't have any actuators for its movement. So, general walking aids have weakness for its movement to upward/download direction of slope. To overcome the weakness of the general walking aids, many researches for active type walking aids are being progressed. Unfortunately it is difficult to control aids during its movement, because it is not easy to recognize user's walking will. Many kinds of methods are proposed to recognize of user's walking will. In this paper, we propose walking will recognition algorithm by using torque estimation from wheels. First, we measure wheel velocity and voltage at the walking aids. From these data, external forces are extracted. And then walking will that is included by walking velocity and direction is estimated. Here, all the processes are verified by simulation and experiment in the real world.