• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.496-504
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• 2023

This paper recognizes the motion intention of the wearer using a muscle stiffness sensor and proposes a control system for a wearable robot based on this. The proposed system recognizes the onset time of the motion using sensor data, determines the assistance mode, and provides assistive torque to the hip flexion/extension motion of the wearer through the generated reference trajectory according to the determined mode. The onset time of motion was detected using the CUSUM algorithm from the muscle stiffness sensor, and by comparing the detection results of the onset time with the EMG sensor and IMU, it verified its applicability as an input device for recognizing the intention of the wearer before motion. In addition, the stability of the proposed method was confirmed by comparing the results detected according to the walking speed of two subjects (1 male and 1 female). Based on these results, the assistance mode (gait assistance mode and muscle strengthening mode) was determined based on the detection results of onset time, and a reference trajectory was generated through cubic spline interpolation according to the determined assistance mode. And, the practicality of the proposed system was also confirmed by applying it to an actual wearable robot.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2020

PURPOSE: Many patients with stroke have difficulties in walking with foot-drop. Various types of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) have been developed, but their weight needs to be reduced with the assistance of the ankle dorsiflexor. Therefore, an elastic AFO (E-AFO) was devised that not only improves the stability and flexibility of the ankle but also assists with ankle dorsiflexion while walking. This study examined the effects of an E-AFO, on the walking patterns of foot-drop patients with stroke. METHODS: Fourteen patients walked with and without an E-AFO, and the gait parameters were assessed using the GAITRite system. The spatiotemporal data on the gait patterns of stroke patients with foot-drop were compared using paired t-tests; the level of statistical significance was set to α<.05. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in the velocity (p=.066) and affecte+d step length (p=.980), but the affected and less-affected stance (p=.022, p=.002) and swing time (p=.012, p=.005) were significantly different. The E-AFO produced a significant difference in the less-affected step length (p=.032). CONCLUSION: The E-AFO has a significant effect on the walking patterns of individuals with foot-drop and stroke. The E-AFO could be a useful assistive device for gait training in stroke patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.26 no.6_3
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• pp.1315-1323
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• 2023

Rehabilitation assistive devices not only assist the rehabilitation therapy and daily life of the disabled and the elderly, but also assist the labor of their caregivers, so various functions are required to improve their quality of life. In this study, a design method considering its practicality is introduced for an active rehabilitation assistive device that can perform both standing and walking assistance by driving various actuators. For this purpose, the force required to assist standing was calculated using statics with the body segmentation method. Also, the overturning stability of the device was verified for various physical conditions and postures. The actuator in the active rehabilitation assistive device was operated by a patient using a graphical user interface in an embedded computer and a touch panel for easy usage. The detailed design was performed for implementation through the help of 3D-CAD and the finite element analysis, and a prototype was produced. Finally, it was proven that the design goal was satisfied by experimental validation.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1241-1248
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• 2019

In this paper, an auxiliary device was implemented to help blind people more safely from obstacles or risk factors while walking. The ultrasonic sensors detect obstacles in the front, so that the noise gap and the vibration intensity of the buzzer can be heard differently by distance and angle, and so the situation can be perceived by pedestrians. When the ambient light becomes darker than the light intensity set using the CdS resistance value of the light sensor, the LED automatically turns on, makes it easier for pedestrians to recognize the position of the auxiliary device through buzzer if the pedestrian misses the aid using the gyro sensor's slope. Moreover, the location and situation of the blind were transmitted to the caregiver to check safety and behavior using GPS and Bluetooth.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.591-597
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• 2022

Objective: The sitting and standing are motions that correspond to the previous stage of rehabilitation to go to walking for daily life. The purpose of this study was to measure task times, path length of the center of pressure (COP) and activity on the vastus femoris muscle using surface electromyography (EMG) when standing up and sitting down. Design: One group cross-sectional design Methods: Fifteen elderly subjects (8 male, 7 female) participated. All subjects were tested three times according to four assist levels (non-assist, lower, middle, and maximal assist) using adjusts the length of spring at sit-to-stand and stand to sit on a chair. The task duration, and COP path length were recorded for the balance function on the Nintendo Wii fit board. The activity of the rectus femoris muscle was recorded on both legs using surface EMG. Results: The results showed that the task duration of the sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit were significantly increased compared to without assist (p<.05). The activation of the rectus femoris muscle more significantly decreased compared to without assistance at standing or sitting (p<.05). Conclusions: The assistive chair showed less quadriceps muscle activation during sitting and standing compared to without assistance. We suggest that our assist-standing chair can help with activities of daily living such as standing up and sitting down movements adjusting the spring length for control assist level by safely.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

In this paper, we propose a method to recognize the braille blocks for embedded devices in real time through deep learning. First, a deep learning model for braille block recognition is trained on a high-performance computer, and the learning model is applied to a lightweight tool to apply to an embedded device. To recognize the walking information of the braille block, an algorithm is used to determine the path using the distance from the braille block in the image. After detecting braille blocks, bollards, and crosswalks through the YOLOv8 model in the video captured by the embedded device, the walking information is recognized through the braille block path discrimination algorithm. We apply the model lightweight tool to YOLOv8 to detect braille blocks in real time. The precision of YOLOv8 model weights is lowered from the existing 32 bits to 8 bits, and the model is optimized by applying the TensorRT optimization engine. As the result of comparing the lightweight model through the proposed method with the existing model, the path recognition accuracy is 99.05%, which is almost the same as the existing model, but the recognition speed is reduced by 59% compared to the existing model, processing about 15 frames per second.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.676-687
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of motor function, depression, and fear of falling, and to identify factors influencing fear of falling in patients with Parkinson's disease in the community. The participants were 180 patients with Parkinson's disease who were selected by convenience sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression. There was a significant difference in fear of falling according to gender, occupation, walking assistance device, number of falls, Parkinson's disease stage, duration of illness, antihypertensive drug, motor function, and depression. Fear of falling showed significant positive correlations with motor function, and depression. Depression, number of falls, Parkinson's disease stage, gender, antihypertensive drug, and motor function were significant predictors influencing fear of falling in patients with Parkinson's disease, and these variables accounted for 36.0% of the variance. Depression of the influencing factors was the strongest factor. The results of this study suggest that a variety of intervention strategies for preventing or mitigating depression with systematic nursing assessment of the influencing factors on fear of falling are needed to prevent fear of falling in patients with Parkinson's disease.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.210-228
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• 2002

Background: The purpose of this research was to examine the fall incidence rate and its related factors of fall in inpatients. Methods: The data were collected from the 138 fall incident reports in one tertiary hospital in Seoul from April 1st 1999 to September 30th 2001. The Fall Incident Report Form was originally developed based on that of Massachusetts General Hospital revised in 1995. And this was modified for this survey by the collaborating work of QI team including researcher and department of nursing service of this particular hospital. The contents of Fall Incident Form were general characteristics of patient. factors related to fall. types and places of fall. circumstances, nursing interventions. and outcome. Results: 1) The incidence rate of fall was 0.08% of total discharged patients and 0.081 per 1000 patient-day. This incidence rate is much lower than that of several hospitals in USA. This finding might result from the different incidence report system of each hospital. 2) The characteristics of fall-prone patient were found as follows. They were mostly over 60 years old, in alert mental status, ambulatory with some assistance, and dependent on ambulatory device. The types of diseases related high incidence rate were cerebrovascular disease(3.2), hypertension(1.6), cardiovascular disease(1.4), diabetes(1.3) and liver disease(0.6). 3) The majority of fall events usually occurred m bed. bedside(walking or standing) and bathroom in patient room. Usually they were up on their own when they fell. And there were more falls of elderly occurred during night time than day or evening. 4) 63.8% of fall events resulted in physical injuries such as fracture and usually the patients had diagnostic procedures and some treatment(ex. suture) which caused additional cost to the patients and their families. 5) The found risk factors of fall were drugs(antihypertensive drug, diuretics) and environmental factors like too high bed height, long distance of bedside table and lamp switch, and slippery tile of bathroom floor. Conclusion: Considering these results, every medical and nursing staff should be aware of the risk factors of patients in hospital, and should intervene more actively the preventive managements, specially for the elderly patients during night. Therefore, it is recommended that the development of Fall Prevention Programs based on these results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.74-85
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• 2020

Smart phone zombie or Smombie means pedestrians who walk without attention to their surroundings because they are focused upon their smart phone. Because the traffic accidents and injuries caused by Smombie have been increased rapidly in recent years, the social attention and policies are needed to prevent it. This study was conducted to analyze Smombie's current status and some solutions used before and to propose new improved method through the latest ICT trend. In this study, we did the field survey to check Smombies at several places in Seoul through people counting, and found that a lot of pedestrians still use the smart phone while walking. And we analyzed many case studies about some solutions to prevent Smombies previously. The case studies include legal regulations, government policies, smart phone app services and facilities that are used before. We studied them through internet searches and reference studies and we also checked the current operating situation as visiting several places that the solutions actually has been operated. Therefore, we found there are some limitations in previous solutions in terms of effectiveness and management. To consider new solution that can be expected to overcome the limitations, we analyzed the latest ICT trends focused on features to utilize the Smombie prevention, especially video recognition and digital signage. In these days, video recognition has been developed rapidly with assistance of AI technology and it can recognize the specific pedestrian's characteristics such as holding smart phone as well as hair style, clothes, backpack and etc. On the other hands, the digital signage is the convergence device that includes big display, network connection and various IoT sensors. It can be used as public media in many places for public services as well as advertising. Through these analysis results, we show the requirements and the user scenario for the improved method to prevent Smombie. Finally, we propose to develop R&D technology to recognize Smombie exactly as pedestrian attributes and to spread creative contents to increase pedestrian's interest and engagement for Smombie prevention through digital signage.