• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2020

In this paper, a new type of electric wheelbarrow is proposed and developed. The developed electric wheelbarrow is equipped with an attitude reference system(ARS) sensor, which consists of 3-axis acceleration sensor and 2-axis Gyro sensor so that it can estimate pitch angle and roll angle. When an operator tilts the wheelbarrow up and down, the pitch angle is detected. The sign of the pitch angle is interpreted as the operator's intention for moving the wheelbarrow forward or backward and the controller drives the wheel of the wheelbarrow with the velocity according to the magnitude of the detected pitch angle. A cargo box of the wheelbarrow is designed to rotate and is controlled to maintain level always, so an operator can handle the electric wheelbarrow easily and safely. The wheelbarrow consists of an in-wheel motor, a DC motor, motor drives, an ARS sensor considering economical use in industrial field. Three experiments are performed to verify the feasibility and stability of the electric wheelbarrow.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2008

The field of robots is being widely accepted as a new technology today. Many robots are produced continuously to impart amusement to people. Especially the robot which operates with a wheelbarrow was enough of a work of art to arouse excitement in the audiences. All the wheelbarrow robots share the same technology in that the direction of roll and pitch are acting as balance controllers, allowing the robots to maintain balance for a long period by continuously moving forward and backward. However one disadvantage of this technology is that they cannot avoid obstacles in their way. Therefore movement in sideways is a necessity. For the control of rotation of yawing direction, the angle and direction of rotation are adjusted according to the velocity and torque of rotation of a motor. Therefore this study aimed to inquire into controlling yawing direction, which is responsible for rotation of a robot. This was followed by creating a simulation of a wheelbarrow robot and equipping the robot with a yawing direction controlling device in the center of the body so as to allow sideway movements.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.157-166
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• 2008

Protected horticulture is labor-intensive. It necessitates great amount of labor in many tasks including grafting, pollination and harvesting. Particularly, carrying crops involves the most intensive labor which leads to a high risk of musculoskeletal disorder. Thus, this study aims at developing an ergonomic vehicle to reduce this intensity of labor and ergonomic evaluation by applying the newly developed vehicles to REBA. 5 healthy male subjects with no records of any musculoskeletal disorder were participated in this study. The experimental units were divided into three categories: lifting, lowering and pushing tasks. The results showed that the developed vehicle received less loads in group B (arms and wrists) than in group A (trunk, neck and legs). Especially, the developed vehicle scored $1.0{\sim}4.4$ in group C on REBA while the conventional wheelbarrow got $3.0{\sim}7.6$, regardless of working postures. In conclusion, the developed ergonomic vehicle provided less loads for human bodies compared to the conventional one.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.286-294
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• 2009

A high prevalence of protected horticulture farmer's work-related musculo-skeletal disorders (MSDs) have been reported in precedent studies. One of the tasks required ergonomic intervention to reduce the musculo-skeletal risks is the task of product transporting. The purpose of this study is to evaluate quantitatively the spinal load of operator using manual vehicles to predict and prevent musculo-skeletal risks. Spinal load in operators using 4 kinds of manual vehicle were analyzed. Before evaluating spinal load on operator using the manual vehicles by bio-mechanical approach, it is needed to validate human model. In this study, ADAMS LifeMOD human model shows satisfactory results, comparing with already validated model's results or measured results. While Operators pushed the manual vehicles(wheelbarrow, Trolley, 2 wheel cart, and 4 wheel cart) contained loads that were 0 N and 800 N, their spinal loads(compression force, shear force) were evaluated. The compression force demonstrated under the NIOSH action limits - 3410N - for all 4 manual vehicle's operators(McGill 1997; Marras 2000). However, the lateral shear force demonstrated over the University of Waterloo - 500N - for all 3 manual vehicle's operators except 4Wheel cart (Yingline and McGill, 1999). Therefore, operators have risks in prevalence of the musculo-skeletal disorders due to shear force. The findings of this study suggest that it need to be determine the spinal load, especially lateral shear force in designing the manual vehicles in the future.