• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.315-322
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• 2009

This paper explains a control and navigation algorithm of a 6-DOF gait rehabilitation robot, which can allow a patient to navigate in virtual reality (VR) by upper and lower limbs interactions. In gait rehabilitation robots, one of the important concerns is not only to follow the robot motions passively, but also to allow the patient to walk by his/her intention. Thus, this robot allows automatic walking velocity update by estimating interaction torques between the human and the upper limb device, and synchronizing the upper limb device to the lower limb device. In addition, the upper limb device acts as a user-friendly input device for navigating in virtual reality. By pushing the switches located at the right and left handles of the upper limb device, a patient is able to do turning motions during navigation in virtual reality. Through experimental results of a healthy subject, we showed that rehabilitation training can be more effectively combined to virtual environments with upper and lower limb connections. The suggested navigation scheme for gait rehabilitation robot will allow various and effective rehabilitation training modes.

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제14권7호
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• pp.672-678
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• 2008

This paper proposes a new rehabilitation robot with upper and lower limb connections for gait training. As humans change a walking speed, their nervous systems adapt muscle activation patterns to modify arm swing for the appropriate frequency. By analyzing this property, we can find a relation between arm swinging and lower limb motions. Thus, the lower limb motion can be controlled by the arm swing for walking speed adaptation according to a patent's intension. This paper deals with the design aspects of the suggested gait rehabilitation robot, including a trajectory planning and a control strategy. The suggested robot is mainly composed of upper limb and lower limb devices, a body support system. The lower limb device consists of a slider device and two 2-dof footpads to allow walking training at uneven and various terrains. The upper limb device consists of an arm swing handle and switches to use as a user input device for walking. The body support system will partially support a patient's weight to allow the upper limb motions. Finally, we showed simulation results for the designed trajectory and controller using a dynamic simulation tool.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.318-325
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• 2019

NREX, an upper limb exoskeleton robot, was developed at the National Rehabilitation Center to assist in the upper limb movements of subjects with weak muscular strength and control ability of the upper limbs, such as those with hemiplegia. For the free movement of the shoulder of the existing NREX, three passive joints were added, which improved its wearability. For the flexion/extension movement and internal/external rotation movement of the shoulder of the robot, the ball lock pin is used to fix or rotate the passive joint. The force and torque between a human and a robot were measured and analyzed in a reaching movement for four targets using a six-axis force/torque sensor for 20 able-bodied subjects. The addition of two passive joints to allow the user to rotate the shoulder can confirm that the average force of the upper limb must be 31.6% less and the torque must be 48.9% less to perform the movement related to the axis of rotation.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.356-364
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• 2017

This paper presents a force control based on the observer without taking any force or torque measurement from the robot which allows realizing more stable and robust human robot interaction for the developed multi-functional upper limb rehabilitation robot. The robot has four functional training modes which can be classified by the human robot interaction types: passive, active, assistive, and resistive mode. The proposed observer consists of internal disturbance observer and external force observer for distinctive performance evaluation. Since four training modes can be quantitatively identified as impedance variation, position-based impedance control with feedback and feedforward controller was applied to the assistive training mode. The results showed that the proposed sensorless observer estimated cleaner and more accurate force compared to the force sensor and the impedance controller embedded with the proposed observer completed the assistive training mode safely and properly.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2009년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.85-86
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• 2009

• 인터넷정보학회논문지
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.33-39
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• 2013

거동이 불편한 노인 및 장애인의 이동을 위한 휠체어 사용 시, 사용하지 않는 상 하지의 근력 저하 등 운동 능력의 감소를 초래할 수 있다. 특히, 척수손상 및 뇌졸중 편마비와 같은 중증 장애인은 거동이 제한되어 운동이 부족하고 근력 유지가 어렵다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 중증 장애인의 특성을 고려하여 상 하지 운동 및 재활훈련이 가능한 지능형 휠체어 로봇 시스템을 설계하였다. 이 시스템은 전동 휠체어, 개인의 특성 파악을 위한 생체인식모듈, 그리고 상 하지 재활 로봇으로 구성되어 있다. 본 논문에서는 개발된 로봇의 설계 및 구성에 대해 설명하고 운용 방법을 제시한다. 또한, 제안한 시스템의 추종 성능을 검증하기 위하여, 비장애인 피험자를 대상으로 재활 운동 수행시 생체 신호 변화에 따른 위험상황 분석과 휠체어 로봇이 이동하면서 상 하지 재활운동 기능에 대한 성능평가를 수행한 결과, 피험자의 재활 운동 수행 시 위험상황 분석에 대한 평균 정확도는 86.7%, 관절각도 최대 오차는 상지 2.5도, 하지 2.3도로 재활 운동 수행에 충분한 추종성능을 나타냈다.

• 한국산업융합학회 논문집
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.15-26
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• 2023

In this study, an end-effector robot which is a two-axis delta robot type for upper-limb rehabilitation is designed. It is not only rehabilitation functions that has designed robot but also mechanical and electrical safety devices were constructed to ensure patient safety. By constructing the two-axis delta robot is combined with an LM guide, the operating range and rigidity required for rehabilitation were secured. The electrical safety system which is required for the medical robot was designed, and a safety strategy was established to ensure patient safety and it is applied in the integrated safety circuit. The safety is considered in whole design process from the robot's mechanical design to the electric control unit.

• 제어로봇시스템학회논문지
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• 제21권5호
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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.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제20권11호
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• pp.171-179
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• 2003

This paper presents a rehabilitation exercise system which utilizes a 6 DOF robot as a motion generator. This system was proposed for a stroke patient or a patient who has hemiplegia. A master-slave system was designed to exercise either paralysis or abnormal limb by using normal limb motion. The study on the human body was applied to calculate the motion range of elbows and shoulders. In addition, a force-torque sensor was applied to the slave robot to estimate the rehabilitation extent of the patient. Therefore, the stability of the rehabilitation robot could be improved. By using the rehabilitation robot. the patients could exercise by themselves without assistance. In conclusion, the proposed system was verified by computer simulations and system experiment.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제45권2호
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• pp.66-74
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• 2024

This study analyzed the occurrence of abnormal muscle coactivations based on the assistance of upper limb weight during reaching task in stroke patients. Nine chronic stroke survivors with hemiplegia performed reaching tasks using a programmable haptic robot. Electromyography (EMG) coactivation levels in the upper limb muscles were analyzed using a linear model describing the activation levels of two muscles when the patient's upper limb weight was assisted at 0%, 25%, and 50%. As the upper limb weight assistance of the haptic robot decreased, the magnitude of the EMG signal in both the deltoid and biceps muscles increased simultaneously on both the paretic and non-paretic sides. However, no difference was found between the paretic and non-paretic sides when comparing the slope of the linear model describing the activation relationship between the deltoid and biceps. The aforementioned results suggest that in some stroke survivors, the deltoids, triceps, and biceps on the paretic side may not be abnormally coupled when supporting the upper limbs against gravity. Furthermore, these results suggest that the combination of haptic robots and EMG analysis might be utilized for evaluating abnormal coactivations in stroke patients.