• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study were to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of the portable slipmeters with respect to actual slipping and to compare their output with those of force platform. The selected slipmeters were commonly used devices for slipperiness measurement in situ floors. Their output quantity represented force (BOT-3000), loss of energy(British pendulum striker) and angle of inclination(English XL). The validity of these devices was studied with respect to actual slipping using a force platform. The precision of these devices was also evaluated with force platform. Based on dynamics of human subject behavior when slipping during normal walking, the all devices tested in this study showed poor performances: low built up ratio, low normal pressure, and long contact time prior to slip. Nevertheless, their results reasonably correlated with those calculated from the ground reaction forces generated by the operation of the selected slipmeters on the force platform although the absolute values of COF from these three devices could be quite different. Also the results showed good repeatability under the some test conditions.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.91-96
• /
• 2014

The behavior of walking involves our action of seeing things. It is the intention of this research that the cognitive process of perceiving things along the path can affect the way we sense the length of the journey. The theory generally accepted in this line of thought is the 'feature accumulation theory'. It assumes that if the journey includes many objects or memorable features, then our memory recalls that journey much farther than it really was. This study set up a real-life experiment by asking university students about their mental memory of the two different routes in the campus. One is a longer path that has not much to look at except trees and the other a shorter path yet with many buildings, sign boards and street furnitures. The subjects processed their mental image in the brain based on their experience. They showed a strong tendency that the path with more features were remembered longer while that with less features shorter. More interestingly, it was found that as their experience increases, they become more accurate about the exact length of the questioned paths. The result corroborates the theory that human perception of space is based on the topological understanding of surroundings rather than geometric understanding.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.87-97
• /
• 2013

Objectives: Recent movements in urban planning propose a promotion of health condition as one of its emerging topics as growing body of evidence suggests that individual health is correlated with the built environment. The concept of healthy city was introduced in Korea and many local governments were tried to implement relevant policies. However, empirical studies were insufficient for understanding the relationship between health and the built environment. Most studies and policies were viewed and implemented from public health perspective. The purpose of this study is to estimate a value of healthy city as an activity-friendly environment. Methods: The 195-respondent survey data in Seoul Metropolitan Area was used for estimating the perception of healthy cities. Results: Survey results reported that more than 90% of respondents did walking and/or biking regularly. Moreover, they were willing to pay won3,695 per month for creating healthy cities. Conclusions: This study confirmed that the consideration of built environmental factor was necessary in policies of healthy city. This can offer insights into how to manage and develop the policies of healthy city to help promote individual health conditions.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.10 no.10
• /
• pp.869-877
• /
• 2004

This paper deals with motion planning algorithm for kinematically redundant manipulators that are not fixed to the ground. Differently from usual redundant manipulators fixed to the ground, the stability issue should be taken into account to prevent the robot from falling down. The typical ZMP equation, which is employed in human walking, will be employed to evaluate the stability. This work proposes a feed forward ZMP planning algorithm. The algorithm embeds the 'ZMP equations' indirectly into the kinematics of the kinematic model of a manipulator via a ZMP stability index The kinematic self motion of the redundant manipulator drives the system in such a way to keep or plan the ZHP at the desired position of the footprint. A sequential redundancy resolution algorithm exploiting the remaining kinematic redundancy is also proposed to enhance the performances of joint limit index and manipulability. In addition, the case exerted by external forces is taken into account. Through simulation for a 5 DOF redundant robot model, feasibility of the proposed algorithms is verified. Lastly, usual applications of the proposed kinematic model are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.261-266
• /
• 2010

Human body is hard to be in perfect balance during walking. Most of time the trunk is supported by one leg and the center of mass(COM) falls to the contralateral side. Thus, dynamic variables such as the velocity of the COM should be considered when gait stability is evaluated. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the extrapolated center of mass(XCom) which utilized the COM position and its velocity, is appropriate to evaluate gait stability. Ten healthy adults participated in this study and performed 3 different types of gaits(normal(NG), hands on waists(HWG), and hands on shoulders(HSG)) onto 4 different types of obstacle(obstacle height: 0%, 30%, 40% and 50% of leg length). Medio-lateral Com-CoP and XCom-CoP inclination angle were calculated during support phase. For all condition, greater M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angles were found(p<.05) compared with those of matched obstacle height CoM-CoP. Especially, M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angle at 50% height revealed the best condition for monitoring dynamic stability. Significantly increased in M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angle was found(p<.05) as obstacle height increased on NG and HWG.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.546-551
• /
• 2011

Tilt sensor is required to control the attitude of the biped robot when it walks on an uneven terrain. Vision sensor, which is used for recognizing human or detecting obstacles, can be used as a tilt angle sensor by comparing current image and reference image. However, vision sensor alone has a lot of technological limitations to control biped robot such as low sampling frequency and estimation time delay. In order to verify limitations of vision sensor, experimental setup of an inverted pendulum, which represents pitch motion of the walking or running robot, is used and it is proved that only vision sensor cannot control an inverted pendulum mainly because of the time delay. In this paper, to overcome limitations of vision sensor, Kalman filter for the multi-rate sensor fusion algorithm is applied with low-quality gyro sensor. It solves limitations of the vision sensor as well as eliminates drift of gyro sensor. Through the experiment of an inverted pendulum control, it is found that the tilt estimation performance of fusion sensor is greatly improved enough to control the attitude of an inverted pendulum.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.602-611
• /
• 2006

This paper proposes a locomotion pattern and a control method for biped robots with curved soles. First, since the contact point of a supporting leg may arbitrarily move back and forth on the ground, we derived the desired trajectory from a model called the Moving. Inverted Pendulum Model (MIPM) where the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) exists at the supporting point and can be moved intentionally. Secondly, a biped robot with curved soles is an under-actuated system since the supporting point contacting with a point on the ground has no actuator during the single supporting phase. Therefore, this paper proposes a computed-torque control for this under-actuated system using decoupled dynamic equations. A series of computer simulations with a 7-DOF biped robot with curved soles shows that the proposed walking pattern and control method are effective and allow the biped robot to walk fast and stably, and move more like human beings. Also, it is shown that the curved sole shape has superior energy consumption compared to flat soles, and greater efficiency in ascending and descending the stairs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.32-39
• /
• 2007

Side roads on campus areone of the important factors affecting campus landscape and quality. So far, side roads have appeared irregularly and have been main causes for disrupting the campus landscape. The purpose of this study was to investigate side roads in three university campuses using Space Syntax and ERAM model and to find some typical characteristics of the campus in three universities: Kyungpook National University, Yeungnam University, and Keimyung University. Kyungpook National University and Yeungnam University had 68 and 64 places respectively showing a high frequency of side roads, while Keimyung University had only 13 side roads, a much lower frequency. Side roads, surveyed on site, appeared to be concentrated in some regions, and side roads were analyzed to have different frequencies and location depending on their specific function and characteristics, though roads have similar sizes and areas.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2000.10a
• /
• pp.80-80
• /
• 2000

The GPS can provide accurate position information on the earth. But GPS receiver can't give position information inside buildings. DR(Dead-Reckoning) or INS(Inertial Navigation System) gives position information continuously indoors as well as outdoors, because they do not depend on the external navigation information. But in general, the inertial sensors severely suffer from their drift errors, the error of these navigation system increases with time. GPS and DR sensors can be integrated together with Kalman filter to overcome these problems. In this paper, we developed a personal navigation system which can be carried by person, using GPS and electronic pedometer. The person's footstep is detected by an accelerometer installed in vertical direction and the direction of movement is sensed by gyroscope and magnetic compass. In this case the step size is varying with person and changing with circumstance, so determining step size is the problem. In order to calculate the step size of detected footstep, the neural network method is used. The teaming pattern of the neural network is determined by human walking pattern data provided by 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope. We can calculate person's location with displacement and heading from this information. And this neural network method that calculates step size gives more improved position information better than fixed step size.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.259-267
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to find the relationship between standing posture biomechanics and physical fitness in the elderly. Physical fitness variables and postural variables for 227 (140 women and 87 men) elderly individuals were tested. Physical fitness tests (Korean Institute of Sports Science, 2012) included 3m sit, walk, and return, grip test, 30 second chair sit and stand, sit and reach, figure 8 walks, and 2 minute stationary march. Postural biomechanics variables included resting calcaneal stance position (RCSP), shoulder slope, pelvic slope, knee flexion angle, leg length difference, thoracic angle, and upper body slope. In statistical analysis, multiple regression was conducted by using stepwise selection method via SAS (version 9.2). Analysis for both men and women revealed significant relationships between physical fitness and age, upper body slope, knee flexion angle, leg length difference. Pelvic and thoracic angle were only related to figure 8 walking and sit and reach in women, while RCSP and shoulder slope had no relationship with any physical fitness variables.