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

Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems (제어로봇시스템학회)
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An Automatic Speed Control System of a Treadmill with Ultrasonic Sensors

초음파 센서를 이용한 트레드밀의 자동속도 제어시스템

  • 마누룽 오라리우스 (경상대학교 기계항공공학부 항공기부품기술연구센터) ;
  • 윤정원 (경상대학교 기계항공공학부 항공기부품기술연구센터)
  • Received : 2010.12.17
  • Accepted : 2011.03.27
  • Published : 2011.05.01
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Abstract

In this paper, we have developed an automatic velocity control system of a small-sized commercial treadmill (belt length of 1.2 m and width of 0.5 m) which is widely used at home and health centers. The control objective is to automatically adjust the treadmill velocity so that the subject's position is maintained within the track when the subject walks at a variable velocity. The subject's position with respect to a reference point is measured by a low-cost sonar sensor located on the back of the subject. Based on an encoder sensor measurement at the treadmill motor, a state feedback control algorithm with Kalman filter was implemented to determine the velocity of the treadmill. In order to reduce the unnatural inertia force felt by the subject, a predefined acceleration limit was applied, which generated smooth velocity trajectories. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in providing successful velocity changes in response to variable velocity walking without causing significant inertia force to the subject. In the pilot study with three subjects, users could change their walking velocity easily and naturally with small deviations during slow, medium, and fast walking. The proposed automatic velocity control algorithm can potentially be applied to any locomotion interface in an economical way without having to use sophisticated and expensive sensors and larger treadmills.

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References

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