• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.29-40
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes of parameters of foot contact by various carrying a pack methods during walking. Method: The subjects were consisted of normal forty four persons (males 30, females 14, mean age 23). The carrying a pack methods were classified into five conditions: carrying no bag(Con 1), carrying a backpack(Con 2), carrying a shoulder bag(Con 3), carrying a cross bag(Con 4), carrying a one-hand bag(Con 5). All subjects were participated in these five condition and measured foot pressure by F-scan system during walking. Then foot contact time, foot contact area, foot contact length and width were measured and analyzed. The repeated one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to get difference between conditions and independent t-test was used to get difference between left and right foot within condition. Result: In the comparison of parameters of foot, contact time, contact area and mid foot width were significantly different between conditions(p<.05), and in both foot contact time at condition 5 showed the most significant reduction(p<.05). In the comparison of parameters of foot between left and right foot within condition, every conditions were not significantly different(p>.05). Conclusion: In this study various carrying methods changed the parameters of foot contact and showed significant difference in some articles between carrying methods. However, asymmetric load of pack by carrying methods didn't affected symmetry of parameters of foot contact between left and right foot.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.503-509
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• 2015

In this paper, we designed and tested an ankle joint mechanism for a gait rehabilitation robot. Gait rehabilitation programs are designed to improve the natural leg motion of patients who have lost their walking capabilities by accident or disease. Strengthening the muscles of the lower-limbs and stimulation of the nervous system corresponding to walking helps patients to walk again using gait assistive devices. It is an obvious requirement that the rehabilitation system's motion should be similar to and as natural as the normal gait. However, the system being used for gait rehabilitation does not pay much attention to ankle joints, which play an important role in correct walking as the motion of the ankle should reflect the movement of the center of gravity (COG) of the body. Consequently, we have designed an ankle mechanism that ensures the safety of the patient as well as efficient gait training. Also, even patients with low leg muscle strength are able to operate the ankle joint due to the direct-drive mechanism without a reducer. This safety feature prevents any possible adverse load on the human ankle. The additional degree of freedom for the roll motion achieves a gait pattern which is similar to the normal gait and with a greater degree of comfort.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.615-620
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• 2015

DOB (Disturbance Observer) is an useful control method for estimating the disturbance applied to dynamic systems. Disturbance observer can be used to implement a robust control system to generate a control input for rejecting the disturbance, and it can be also used to estimate the disturbance to obtain information. The system that uses disturbance estimation is investigated for high performance control such as automatic door systems, walking robot and electric power steering system in vehicles. In this paper, a novel disturbance observer which is called disturbance and current observer for estimating load torque in the motor system is proposed. The difference between the DOB for disturbance rejection and DCOB is mathematically verified. Current and angular velocity are required for estimating the load torque of the motor in DOB. However, the DCOB can estimate load torque and current without current sensor. DCOB is designed based on modeling of the motor system. Appropriate Q-filter is selected and the applicability of DCOB is verified by simulation. The estimated disturbance and current of the electric motor can be verified without current sensor, as experiments of the actual motor system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.625-642
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• 2016

The rapid technology developments in smartphones have created a significant opportunity for their use in structural live load measurements. This paper presents extensive experiments conducted in two stages to investigate this opportunity. Shaking table tests were carried out in the first stage using selected popular smartphones to measure the sinusoidal waves of various frequencies, the sinusoidal sweeping, and earthquake waves. Comparison between smartphone measurements and real inputs showed that the smartphones used in this study gave reliable measurements for harmonic waves in both time and frequency domains. For complex waves, smartphone measurements should be used with caution. In the second stage, three-dimensional motion capture technology was employed to explore the capacity of smartphones for measuring the movement of individuals in walking, bouncing and jumping activities. In these tests, reflective markers were attached to the test subject. The markers' trajectories were recorded by the motion capture system and were taken as references. The smartphone measurements agreed well with the references when the phone was properly fixed. Encouraged by these experimental validation results, smartphones were attached to moving participants of this study. The phones measured the acceleration near the center-of-mass of his or her body. The human-induced loads were then reconstructed by the acceleration measurements in conjunction with a biomechanical model. Satisfactory agreement between the reconstructed forces and that measured by a force plate was observed in several instances, clearly demonstrating the capability of smartphones to accurately assist in obtaining human-induced load measurements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.3
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• pp.283-294
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• 2022

An inerter is a passive mechanical element whose inertance can be thousands of times its own physical mass. This paper discusses the application of an inerter-based passive control system, termed rotational inertial double-tuned mass damper (RIDTMD), to mitigate human-induced floor vibrations. First, the acceleration frequency response function of the floor with an RIDTMD is first derived. It is then employed to determine the optimal design parameters of the RIDTMD using the extended fixed-points technique. Based on a theoretical analysis, design-oriented empirical functions are proposed for the RIDTMD optimal parameters, whose performance for floor vibration control is evaluated by numerical examples, in which three typical human-induced load types are considered: walking, jumping, and bouncing. The results indicate that the applicability and effectiveness of the RIDTMD for human-induced floor vibration control are robust for various load types, load frequencies, and floor natural frequencies. For the same mass ratio, the RIDTMD is better than the TMD in reducing the floor vibration amplitude and improving the effective frequency suppression bandwidth, and for the same vibration suppression effect, the mass of the RIDTMD is much lighter than that of the TMD.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.4 s.44
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• pp.19-28
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• 2005

Long span structures with low natural frequencies such as shopping malls, large offices, and assembly rooms may experience signification dynamic responses due to human activities. In many cases, the group activities are common thing in comparison with the single activity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the responses of building structure subjected to group human loads using mode shapes. For this purpose, equations to estimate the magnitudes ol responses ol structure subjected to group walking loads are derived. And the correlation of loads is verified for identifying the relation of each human load composing of group human loads using two load cells. The method is proposed for evaluating the responses of structure subjected to group loads using mode shapes and correlation function related to each human loads. The effectiveness ol the proposed method is verified analytically using a simple beam and floor and experimentally on a footbridge measuring the structural response induced by group pedestrians for the case of synchronization or not. Results indicate that the amplitudes of group walking loads can be easily estimated if the mode shapes are available, and that the corresponding structural responses can be estimated easily by the simple response measurement using the proposed method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.771-782
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• 2017

This paper describes the development of a wearable robot to assist ankle power for the elderly. Previously developed wearable robots have generally used motors and gears to assist muscle power during walking. However, the combination of motor and reduction gear is heavy and has limitations on the simultaneous control of stiffness and torque due to the friction of the gear reducer unlike human muscles. Therefore, in this study, Mckibben pneumatic muscle, which is lighter, safer, and more powerful than an electric motor with gear, was used to assist ankle joint. Antagonistic actuation using a pair of pneumatic muscles assisted the power of the soleus muscles and tibialis anterior muscles used for the pitching motion of the ankle joint, and the model parameters of the antagonistic actuator were experimentally derived using a muscle test platform. To recognize the wearer's walking intention, foot load and ankle torque were calculated by measuring the pressure and the center of pressure of the foot using force and linear displacement sensors, and the stiffness and the torque of the pneumatic muscle joint were then controlled by the calculated ankle torque and foot load. Finally, the performance of the developed ankle power assistive robot was experimentally verified by measuring EMG signals during walking experiments on a treadmill.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.4689-4696
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to evaluate biomechanical characteristics of trekking shoes using 3D Bootie method as mimics barefoot form of F Co. that provides the best comfort and plantar pressure dispersion. The control group is normal trekking shoes of M Co. and K Co.. 13 healthy males measured the foot pressure, EMG and GRF. Collected data was analyzed using One-way ANOVA in order to investigate the effects of each trekking shoes. The results are as follows: Trekking shoe of F Co. was significantly wider in contact area than others at MF and significantly lower in maximum force, peak pressure than others at RF. In the case of muscle activity, acted in the same way as the effect of barefoot walking. In the case of GRF, effectively absorbed the impact force, so it is possible to efficient walking. As a result of the analysis, trekking shoe using of 3D Bootie method of F Co. can be efficient walking by reducing the load of foot during walking.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.7 s.196
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• pp.90-97
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• 2007

This paper describes the development of 6-axis force/moment sensor considered adult weight far an intelligent foot of humanoid robot. In order to walk on uneven terrain safely, the foot should perceive the applied forces Fx, Fy, Fz and moments Mx, My, Mz to itself and control the foot using the forces and moments. The applied forces and moments should be measured from a 6-axis force/moment sensor attached to the foot, which is composed of Fx sensor, Fy sensor, Fz sensor, Mx sensor, My sensor and Mz sensor in a body. Each sensor should get the deferent rated load, because the applied forces and moments to foot in walking are deferent. Therefore, one of the important things in the sensor is to design each sensor with the deferent rated load and the same rated output. In this paper, a 6-axis force/moment sensor (rated load of Fx and Fy are 500Nm and Fz sensor is 1000N, and those of Mx and My are 18Nm, Mz sensor is 8Nm) for perceiving forces and moments in a humanoid robot's foot was developed using many PPBs (parallel plate-beams). The structure of the sensor was newly modeled, and the sensing elements (plate-beams) of the sensor were designed using by ANSYS software (FEM (Finite Element Method) program). Then, a 6-axis force/moment sensor was fabricated by attaching strain-gages on the sensing elements, and the characteristic test of the developed sensor was carried out. The rated outputs from FEM analysis agree well with that from the characteristic test.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.179-185
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• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the visual and spatial elements of the gait of a stroke patient who had diverse ankle weight loads applied, according to weight changes. Methods: The subject was a 57-year-old stroke patient diagnosed and hospitalized with a left intracerebral hemorrhage. A weight equivalent to 0%, 1%, and 2% of his body weight was applied to the area 5cm upward from the ankle using a Velcro strap. He was then trained on a treadmill, receiving a six-minute walk test to evaluate his gait ability. A gait analyzer was used to collect visual and spatial elements, such as gait distance, gait velocity, cadence, step length, stride length, and swing phase, according to a weight load equivalent to 0%, 1%, and 2% of his body weight. Results: According to the results of applying 0%, 1%, and 2% of his body weight on the ankle, except for gait velocity, his gait distance, cadence, step length, stride length, and swing phase were higher when 1% of his body weight was applied compared to 0% or 2% of his body weight. Conclusion: Applying a weight equivalent to 1% of the body weight to the ankle positively affected the visual and spatial element of the gait and heightened the efficiency of exercise during treadmill training, a gait-training tool generally used for stroke patients. However, the result is difficult to generalize because the number of subjects was small with only one subject.