• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.440-454
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• 2014

This study examined the wearing effect of 3D compression suits on quantitative electroencephalogram (EEG) during walking and rest. Ten males in their 20s wore three types of experimental clothing, a loose-fit wear (BS), a 3D compression suit (3D CS), and a power film welded on CS (3D WCS); in addition, EEG signals were measured during resting, walking, after walking, and after sit-ups. The results showed that a higher pressure (due to 3D CS and 3D WCS) increased the 'Concentration' level and the 'Cognitive load' of brain waves during treadmill walking due to a higher cortex activity level when walking. Differentiation was shown between two compression suits and BS was enhanced during walking on a treadmill; however, the brain waves of 'Relaxation' between two compression suits were significantly different after walking, i.e., 'Relaxation' level of 3D WCS was the highest. Rigorous exercise such as sit-ups was inefficient to distinguish the effect of compression suits on EEG. Participants perceived a higher pressure due to compression suits; however, the wear comfort of two compression suits was maintained. Two compression suits were rated as supportive and helpful during walking. Various EEG parameters such as the indices of 'Relaxation', 'Concentration' and 'Cognitive load' were effective to observe the effect of 3D compression suits on wearers' brain waves during and after walking.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.414-421
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• 2001

Recently, the damping effect of building structures are greatly reduced because the use of non-structures members as like curtain wall are decreased and large open space are in need for the service of buildings. Assembly and office buildings with a lower natural frequency have a higher possibility of experiencing excessive vibration induced by human activities as like jumping, running and walking. These excessive vibration make the occupants uncomfortable and the serviceability deterioration. The common method of application of walking loads for the vibration analysis of structures subjected to walking loads is to inflict a series unit walking load and a periodic function at a node. But this method could not consider the moving effect of walking. In this study, natural frequency and damping ratio of plate structure are evaluated by heel drop tests. And new application of equivalent walking loads are introduced for vibration analysis of real slab system subjected to walking loads. The response obtained from the numerical analysis are compared well to the results measured by experimental tests. It is possible to efficiently analyze the vibration of floor which is subjected to walking loads by applying equivalent walking loads.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.105-110
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• 2008

Most high rise buildings have been constructed with steel structure systems with metal deck floors and concrete topping. Since the mass of the metal deck floor system is relatively thinner than that of the concrete floor system and due to the larger span compared to other floor systems, vibration serviceability problems are frequently occurred. Most of vibration problems are induced by the movement of humans. A walking load function was proposed for the better estimation of composite deck floor vibration based on site measurements in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.273-280
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• 2000

Building structures which are in need of large open space make the damping effect of the structures decrease greatly. Assembly and office buildings with a lower natural frequency have a higher possibility of experiencing excessive vibration induced by human activities. These excessive vibration make the residents uncomfortable and the serviceability deterioration. The loads induced by human activities were classified into two types. First type is in place loads as like jumping, foot stamping and body bouncing. The other type is moving loads as like walking, running and dancing. A series of laboratories experiments had been conducted to study the dynamic loads induced by human activities, The earlier works were mainly concerned to parameters study of dynamic loads as like activity type, weight, sex, surface condition of structure and etc. In this paper, we have measured directly the walking loads by using the platform. And we have evaluated and analyzed load-time history of walking loads. One of the most important parameter is pacing rate (walking speed) in the walking loads. The difference between the maximum value and minimum value of walking loads depends on the walking speed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.38-44
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• 2002

A walking training robot is proposed to provide stable and comfortable walking supports by reducing body weight load partially and a force control of an arm of walking training robot using sliding mode controller is also proposed. The current gait training apparatus in hospital are ineffective for the difficulty in keeping constant unloading level and for the constraint of patients' free walking. The proposed walking training robot effectively unloads body weight during walking. The walking training robot consists of an unloading manipulator and a mobile platform. The manipulator driven by an electro-mechanical linear mechanism unloads body weight in various levels. The mobile platform is wheel type, which allows patients to walt freely. The developed unloading system has advantages such as low noise level, lightweight, low manufacturing cost and low power consumption. A system model fur the manipulator is established using Lagrange's equation. To unload the weight of the patients, sliding mode control with p-control is adopted. Both control responses with a weight and human walking control responses are analyzed through experimental implementation to demonstrate performance characteristics of the proposed force controller.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.3_1spc
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• pp.600-606
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• 2013

This paper describes the development of a novel walking assistance robot for the elderly and infirm. In the case of simple walking assistance devices, the walking safety and effectiveness are somewhat low; hence, caregivers are frequently required. The walking assistance robot developed in this research is capable of securely and conveniently assisting a walking user by using electric motors and various devices without a caregiver. The main features include the following. First, the walking safety is improved by using a pelvis supporter, and the robot is able to follow the user effectively by means of ergonomic motion sensors and electric powered wheels. Second, it is possible to adjust the load applied to the lower body by adjusting the height of the pelvis supporter. Finally, it is possible to inform the approximate distance and direction of any obstacle around the robot using the sounds and vibrations for the blind and the hearing impaired. The performance of the developed walking assistance robot was successfully verified using a walking assistance test in a narrow-corridor environment.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1709-1712
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• 2008

The trunk is inclined to the loaded side when carrying an object as one of activities of daily living. As the reaction to this behavior the human body may be inclined to his/her trunk to unloaded side. The present study investigated the biomechanical effects of weight variation for sided load carriage during walking upon joint moments and muscle torques, through the tracker agent and joint driving dynamic analysis. To perform the experiment one male was selected as subject for the study. Gait analysis was performed by using a 3D motion analysis system. Thirty nine 14mm reflective markers, according to the plug-in marker set, were attached to the subject. We used BRG.LifeMOD(Biomechanics Research Group, Inc., USA), for skeletal modeling and inverse and joint driving dynamic simulation during one gait cycle. In walking with a sided load carriage, the subject modeled held the carriage with the right hand, which weighed 0, 5, 10, 15kg, 20kg respectively. The result of this simulation showed that knee and hip in the coronal plane were inclined to the loaded side and loaded side had larger moments as the sided load carriage was increased. On the other hand thoracic and lumbar in the coronal plane had larger negative values as the sided loaded carriage was increased. The thoracic and lumbar in the transverse plane also had larger values as the sided load was increased. And the several muscles of loaded side were increased as increasing sided load. It could be concluded that human body is adopted to side loaded circumstances by showing more biologic force. These results could be very useful in analysis for delivery motion of daily life.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.1044-1051
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• 2004

This paper described a novel locomotion interface that can generate infinite floor for various surface, named as virtual walking machine. This interface allows users to participate in a life-like walking experience in virtual environments, which include various terrains such as plains, slopes and stair ground surfaces. The interface is composed of two three-DOF (X, Y, Yaw) planar devices and two four-DOF (Pitch, Roll, Z, and relative rotation) footpads. The planar devices are driven by AC servomotors for generating fast motions, while the footpad devices are driven by pneumatic actuators for continuous support of human weight. To simulate natural human walking, the locomotion interface design specification are acquired based on gait analysis and each mechanism is optimally designed and manufactured to satisfy the given requirements. The designed locomotion interface allows natural walking(step: 0.8m, height: 20cm, load capability: 100kg, slope:30deg) for various terrains.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.169-175
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• 2000

Stable and comfortable walking supports, which can reduce the body weight load partially, are needed for the recovering patients from neurologic disease and orthopedic procedures. In this paper, the development of a manipulator of rehabilitation robot for the patients with walking disabilities are studied. A force controller using pneumatic actuators is designed and implemented to the human friendly rehabilitation robot considering the safety of patients, reliability of the system, effectiveness of the unloading control and economic maintenance of the system. The mechanism of the unloading manipulator is devised to improve the sensibility for the movement of the patients such as direction and velocity. For the unloading force control, fuzzy control algorithm is adopted to reduce the partial body weight and suppress the unwanted fluctuation of the body weight load to the weak legs due to the unnatural working of the patients with walking disabilities. The effectiveness of the force control is experimentally demonstrated.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.27-36
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• 2006

The purpose of this study would like to analyze statically significant difference for low back-pain frequency of mother after development-disability children. Seven nursery children with disability conducted survey from 122 mothers cared children with disability. Survey data was obtained from April 14. 2006 to May 23. 2006. The results were as follows: According to walking-existence, assistance walking, and disability-degree, low back pain incidence frequency of mothers were statically significant difference, (p<0.05). Low back pain incidence frequency of walker-ability population was 51.4%, but low back pain incidence frequency of walker-disability population was 80.0%. then low back pain incidence frequency of mothers to walking-existence was differed amount. Disabled not statically significant difference to encephalopathy and disability-type1 and disability -type2 (p>0.05). children with disability-degree and assistance walking benchmarked low back pain disability-measure. Low back pain degree not relevancy statically significant. Physical load was statically significant difference between Oswestry's low back pain score and reach effect to child-cared(p<0.05). As development-children with disability of disable degree, Mother appeared to highly low back pain frequency rate and appeared to large reach effect child-cared owing to physical load of low back pain. So hereafter, location and person request to approach with more clinical and objectively. As approach result, it will help to stress solution of children with disability owing to develop to low back pain class and family capable strengthening program and so on.