• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.322-333
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• 2022

The Avatar robot, which is one of the teleoperation robots, aims to enable users to feel the robot as a part of the body to intuitively and naturally perform various tasks. Considering the purpose of the avatar robot, an end-effector identical to a human hand is advantageous, but a robotic hand with human hand level performance has not yet been developed. In this paper we propose a new 3-finger robotic hand with human-avatar hand posture mapping algorithm which were integrated with TOCABI-AVATAR, one of the teleoperation system. Due to the flexible rolling contact joints and tendon driven mechanism applied to the finger, the finger could implement adaptive grasping and absorb the impact force caused by unexpected contacts. In addition, human-avatar hand mapping algorithm using five calibration hand postures propose to compensate physical differences between operators. Using the TOCABI-AVATAR system with the robotic hands and mapping algorithm, the operator can perform 13 out of 16 hand postures of grasping taxonomy and 4 gestures. In addition, using the system, we participated in the ANA AVATAR XPRIZE Semi-final and successfully performed three scenarios which including various social interactions as well as object manipulation.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.179-186
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• 2021

Manipulation of complex objects with an anthropomorphic robot hand like a human hand is a challenge in the human-centric environment. In order to train the anthropomorphic robot hand which has a high degree of freedom (DoF), human demonstration augmented deep reinforcement learning policy optimization methods have been proposed. In this work, we first demonstrate augmentation of human demonstration in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is effective for object manipulation by comparing the performance of the augmentation-free Natural Policy Gradient (NPG) and Demonstration Augmented NPG (DA-NPG). Then three DRL policy optimization methods, namely NPG, Trust Region Policy Optimization (TRPO), and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), have been evaluated with DA (i.e., DA-NPG, DA-TRPO, and DA-PPO) and without DA by manipulating six objects such as apple, banana, bottle, light bulb, camera, and hammer. The results show that DA-NPG achieved the average success rate of 99.33% whereas NPG only achieved 60%. In addition, DA-NPG succeeded grasping all six objects while DA-TRPO and DA-PPO failed to grasp some objects and showed unstable performances.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.618-632
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• 2010

This paper presents a novel approach to control the augmented reality (AR) objects robustly in a marker-less AR system by fingertip tracking and hand pattern recognition. It is known that one of the promising ways to develop a marker-less AR system is using human's body such as hand or face for replacing traditional fiducial markers. This paper introduces a real-time method to manipulate the overlaid virtual objects dynamically in a marker-less AR system using both hands with a single camera. The left bare hand is considered as a virtual marker in the marker-less AR system and the right hand is used as a hand mouse. To build the marker-less system, we utilize a skin-color model for hand shape detection and curvature-based fingertip detection from an input video image. Using the detected fingertips the camera pose are estimated to overlay virtual objects on the hand coordinate system. In order to manipulate the virtual objects rendered on the marker-less AR system dynamically, a vision-based hand control interface, which exploits the fingertip tracking for the movement of the objects and pattern matching for the hand command initiation, is developed. From the experiments, we can prove that the proposed and developed system can control the objects dynamically in a convenient fashion.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.55-61
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between the hand dexterity and grip strength of 8-10 year elementary school children and 20-24 year college students. This study was conducted on 77 elementary school children aged 8-10 years old and 50 college students aged 20-24 years. The chopsticks manipulation test (CMT) and dymanomenter were used to evaluated hand dexterity and grip strength. In this study, the correlation between hand dexterity and grip strength, and the age, hand dexterity and grip strength of the subjects were compared. hand dexterity between 8-10 year old and 20-24 year old students were statistically different between 8 and 9 year olds, and the control was between 8 and 20-24 year old students. There were statistically significant differences. In addition, in the correlation between age, hand dexterity and grip strength, age and grip strength were positively correlated, and age and hand dexterity were negatively correlated. These results may contribute to the development of children's hand function and the fusion approach.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1093-1098
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• 2003

In this paper, a practical methodology of hand-manipulator motion coordination for indoor service robot is introduced. This paper describes the procedures of opening door performed by service robot as a noticeable example of motion coordination. This paper presents well-structured framework for hand-manipulator motion coordination, which includes intelligent sensor data interpretation, object shape estimation, optimal grasping, on-line motion planning and behavior-based task execution. This proposed approach is focused on how to integrate the respective functions in harmony and enable the robot to complete its operation under the limitation of usable resources. As a practical example of implementation, the successful experimental results in opening door whose geometric parameters are unknown beforehand are provided.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.200-205
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• 1993

In many applications, the typical parallel-jaw end-effector of a robot arm has been remarkably satisfactory. But, it is not adequate for the applications such as complicated manipulation. In the study, a finger with 4 joints (so, having redundancy) was consturcted to investigate the characteristics of an articulated hand. Each joint was driven by one actuator, and the motor torque was transmited to each joint through a tendon-pulley system. In the context, major considerations for hardware design and the method to solve the inverse kinematics of a redundant manipulator were presented. Finally, the basic capabilities of an articulated hand were presented through experiments.

• Archives of Reconstructive Microsurgery
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2006

The function of the thumb is critical to overall hand function. The thumb enables motions such as pinch, grip, fine manipulation and allows to circumduction and opposition. It's loss is a serious problem not only from cosmetic point of view but also functional. Therefore, we should make every effort on thumb reconstruction. Many methods of thumb reconstruction from simple osteoplasty to complex microsurgical reconstruction have been reported. We should understand merits and demerits of each method and choose proper method on case by case. When both hands are injured and there is no option but to amputate one hand and the thumb of another hand is lost, spare part flap from the thumb of the amputated hand to another hand can solve cosmetic problem, functional problem and donor morbidity. We report a case of amputated thumb which has been reconstructed with amputated ring finger of the contralateral hand using spare part flap concept.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.183-189
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• 2018

The focus of this paper is to design and control a three fingered hand system with eight axes for smart factory with an flexible controller, and to keep a useful big database for dynamic manipulation based on the experimental results. The weight of the hand module is only 1.2 kg, but flexible motion and powerful grasping are possible. To achieve such a flexible motion control of a robotic hand, we have developed a robust and precise fingered hand with a control system incorporating image recognition system in which we deal with the problems of not only accuracy and range of motion but also the flexibility of hand. The fingers are arranged so as to grasp both circular and prismatic objects. In order to achieve the light mechanism, we reduced the number of joints and fingers as much as possible. In this study, it was used three fingers with eight axes which is the optimal number to achieve a robust grasping diverse shape parts for smart factory.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.20-28
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• 2010

In this paper, we propose a hand gesture interface for the manipulation of augmented objects in 3D space using a camera. Generally a marker is used for the detection of 3D movement in 2D images. However marker based system has obvious defects since markers are always to be included in the image or we need additional equipments for controling objects, which results in reduced immersion. To overcome this problem, we replace marker by planar hand shape by estimating the hand pose. Kalman filter is for robust tracking of the hand shape. The experimental result indicates the feasibility of the proposed algorithm for hand based AR interfaces.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.49-56
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• 2018

Virtual object weight perception is an important topic, as it heightens the believability of object manipulation in immersive virtual environments. Although weight perception can be achieved using haptic interfaces, their technical complexity makes them difficult to apply in immersive virtual environments. In this study, we present a visual pseudo-haptic feedback system that simulates and depicts the weights of virtual objects, the effect of which is weight perception. The proposed method recognizes grasping and manipulating hand motions using computer vision-based tracking methods, visualizing a Force Arrow to indicate the current lifting forces and its difference from the standard lifting force. With the proposed Force Arrow method, a user can more accurately perceive the logical and unidirectional weight and therefore control the force used to lift a virtual object. In this paper, we investigate the potential of the proposed method in discriminating between different weights of virtual objects.