Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems (제어로봇시스템학회논문지)

Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems (제어로봇시스템학회)
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Development of Walking Assistive System using Body Weight Supporting and Path Planning Strategy

인체 자중 보상 및 로봇 경로계획법을 이용한 이동형 보행 재활 시스템 개발

  • 유승남 (한양대학교 기계공학과) ;
  • 손웅희 (한양대학교 메카트로닉스공학과) ;
  • 서승환 (한양대학교 기계공학과) ;
  • 이상호 (한양대학교 메카트로닉스공학과) ;
  • 한창수 (한양대학교 기계공학과)
  • Received : 2010.06.10
  • Accepted : 2010.07.20
  • Published : 2010.10.01
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Abstract

With the rising numbers of elderly and disabled people, the demand for welfare services using a robotic system and not involving human effort is likewise increasing. This study deals with a mobile-robot system combined with a BWS (Body Weight Support) system for gait rehabilitation. The BWS system is designed via the kinematic analysis of the robot's body-lifting characteristics and of the walking guide system that controls the total rehabilitation system integrated in the mobile robot. This mobile platform is operated by utilizing the AGV (Autonomous Guided Vehicle) driving algorithm. Especially, the method that integrates geometric path tracking and obstacle avoidance for a nonholonomic mobile robot is applied so that the system can be operated in an area where the elderly users are expected to be situated, such as in a public hospital or a rehabilitation center. The mobile robot follows the path by moving through the turning radius supplied by the pure-pursuit method which is one of the existing geometric path-tracking methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through the real experiments those are conducted for path tracking with static- and dynamic-obstacle avoidance. Finally, through the EMG (Electromyography) signal measurement of the subject, the performance of the proposed system in a real operation condition is evaluated.

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References

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