• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.413-420
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• 2015

This paper describes the design of an elbow rehabilitation robot based on force measurement that enables a severe stroke patient confined to their bed to receive elbow rehabilitation exercises. The developed elbow rehabilitation robot was providewitha two-axis force/torque sensor which can detect force Fz and torque Tz, thereby allowing it to measure therotational force (Tz) exerted on the elbow and the signal force Fz which can be used as a safety device. The robot was designed and manufactured for severe stroke patients confined to bed, and the robot program was manufactured to perform flexibility elbow rehabilitation exercises. Asa result of the characteristics test of the developed rehabilitation robot, the device was safely operated while the elbow rehabilitation exercises were performed. Therefore, it is thought that the developed rehabilitation robot can be used for severe stroke patients.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2014

In this paper we propose a wearable elbow rehabilitation robot applied the mirror therapy for elbow rehabilitation. To implement the mirror therapy, a data suit for measuring healthy elbow motion is developed. A powered elbow exoskeleton wearing in paralyzed arm is controlled by the measured data from the healthy elbow motion. In experiments, the elbow rehabilitation exercise by the mirror therapy is performed. From the experimental results we show the wearable exercise robot including the data suit is applicable to the mirror therapy for elbow rehabilitation.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.28 no.A
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• pp.75-80
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• 2008

This paper describes the mechanical and control design of a robotic device for providing therapeutic assistance to arm movement following stroke. This is a new robot for arm therapy applicable to the training of activities of daily living in homes and clinics. This instrument has one degrees of freedom, and is equipped with position and force sensors. Repetitive movement can improve movement performance in patients with neurological or orthopaedic lesions. The application of robotics can serve to assist, enhance, evaluate, and document neurological and orthopaedic rehabilitation of movements. The new robot, the mechanical structure, the control circuit, the sensors and actuators and some safety aspects.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1949-1960
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• 2004

This paper presents a robot system developed for medical purpose. A 6-degree-of-freedom robot was introduced for physical exercise and rehabilitation. This system was proposed for stroke patients or patients who cannot use one of their arms or legs. The robot system exercises the hemiplegic part based on the motion of normal part of a patient. Kinematic studies on the human body and robot were applied to develop the robotic rehabilitation exercise system. A clamp which acts as an end effector of the robot to hold a patient was designed and applied to the robot to guarantee the safety of patients. The proposed robotic rehabilitation system was verified by simulations and experiments on arm (elbow and shoulder) motion. Patients are expected to be able to exercise various motions by themselves with the proposed robotic rehabilitation system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.64-71
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• 2009

A 3-D rehabilitation robot system is developed in this paper. The robot system is for the rehabilitation of upper extremities, especially the shoulder and elbow joints, and has 3-D workspace for enabling occupational therapy to recover physical functions in activities of daily living(ADL). The rehabilitation robot system, which is driven by actuators, has 1 DOF in horizontal rotational motion and 2 DOF in vertical rotational motion, where all actuators are set on the ground. Parallelogram linkage mechanisms lower the equivalent inertia of the control elements as well as control forces. Also the mechanisms have high mechanical rigidity for the end effector and the handle. Passive motion mode experiments have been performed to evaluate the proposed robot system. The results of the experiments show and excellent performance in simulating spasticity of patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.599-605
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• 2011

A 3-D rehabilitation robot system is developed. The robot system is for the rehabilitation of upper extremities, especially the shoulder and elbow joints, and has 3-D workspace for occupational therapy to recover physical functions in activities of daily living(ADL). The rehabilitation robot system has 1 DOF in horizontal rotational motion and 2 DOF in vertical rotational motion, where all actuators are set on the ground. Parallelogram linkage mechanisms lower the equivalent inertia of the control elements as well as control forces. Also the mechanisms have high mechanical rigidity for the end effector and the handle. In this paper, a hybrid position/force controller is used for controlling positions and forces simultaneously The controller is tuned according to the robot posture. The active motion modes for rehabilitation program consist of active-resisted motion mode and active-free motion mode. The results of the experiments show that the proposed motion modes provide the intended forces effectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.421-422
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• 2011

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.309-318
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• 2003

In this paper a 6 degree-of-freedom robot was studied for medical purpose. In the past the robot used for industry field was utilized for medical robot but in these days the robot used for rehabilitation. welfare, and service. This system was Proposed for a stroke patient or a patient who can not use one arm. A master-slave system was constructed to exercise either paralysis or abnormal arm using normal arms movement. Study on the human body motion result was applied to calculate a movement range of humans elbow and shoulder. In addition, a force-torque sensor is applied to estimate the rehabilitation extent of the patient in the slave robot. Therefore, the stability of the rehabilitation robot could be improved. By using the rehabilitation robot, the Patient could exercise by himself without any assistance In conclusion. the proposed system and control algorithm were verified by computer simulation and system experiment.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.421-426
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• 2015

Need to develop human body's posture supervised robots, gave the push to researchers to think over dexterous design of exoskeleton robots. It requires to develop quantitative techniques to assess human motor function and generate the command to assist in compliance with complex human motion. Upper limb rehabilitation robots, are one of those robots. These robots are used for the rehabilitation of patients having movement disorder due to spinal or brain injuries. One aspect that must be fulfilled by these robots, is to cope with uncertainties due to different patients, without significantly degrading the performance. In this paper, we propose chattering free sliding mode control technique for this purpose. This control technique is not only able to handle matched uncertainties due to different patients but also for unmatched as well. Using this technique, patients feel active assistance as they deviate from the desired trajectory. Proposed methodology is implemented on seven degrees of freedom (DOF) upper limb rehabilitation robot. In this robot, shoulder and elbow joints are powered by electric motors while rest of the joints are kept passive. Due to these active joints, robot is able to move in sagittal plane only while abduction and adduction motion in shoulder joint is kept passive. Exoskeleton performance is evaluated experimentally by a neurologically intact subjects while varying the mass properties. Results show effectiveness of proposed control methodology for the given scenario even having 20 % uncertain parameters in system modeling.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.825-837
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• 2017

This paper describes a novel type of a walking rehabilitation robot that applies robot technologies to crutches used by patients with walking difficulties in the lower body. The primary features of the developed robot are divided into three parts. First, the developed robot is worn on the patient's chest, as opposed to the conventional elbow crutch that is attached to the forearm; hence, it can effectively disperse the patient's weight throughout the width of the chest, and eliminate the concentrated load at the elbow. Furthermore, it allows free arm motion during walking. Second, the developed robot can recognize the walking intention of the patient from the magnitude and direction of the ground reactive forces. This is done using three-axis force sensors attached to the feet of the robot. Third, the robot can perform a stair walking function, which can change vertical movement trajectories in order to step up and down a single stair according to the floor height. Consequently, we experimentally showed that the developed robot can effectively perform walking rehabilitation assistance by perceiving the walking intention of the patient. Moreover we quantitatively verified muscle power assistance by measuring the electromyography (EMG) signals of the muscles of the lower limb.