• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1117-1124
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• 2010

This paper presents a foot movement tracking system using ultrasonic sensors and inertial sensors, where the position and velocity of foot are computed using inertial sensors and ultrasonic sensors mounted on a shoe. A foot movement can be estimated using an inertial navigation algorithm only; however, the error tends to increase due to biases of gyroscopes and accelerometers. To reduce the error, a localization system using ultrasonic sensors is additionally used. In the localization system using ultrasonic sensors, the position is continuously calculated in the absolute coordinate. An indirect Kalman filter is used to combine inertial sensors and ultrasonic sensors. Through experiments, it is shown that the proposed system can track a foot movement.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2013

To generate the walking path of a humanoid robot in an unknown environment, the shapes of obstacles around the robot should be detected accurately. However, doing so incurs a very large computational cost. Therefore this study proposes a method to classify the obstacle shape into three types: a shape small enough for the robot to go over, a shape planar enough for the robot foot to make contact with, and an uncertain shape that must be avoided by the robot. To classify the obstacle shape, first, the range and the number of the obstacles is detected. If an obstacle can make contact with the robot foot, the shape of an obstacle is accurately derived. If an obstacle has uncertain shape or small size, the shape of an obstacle is not detected to minimize the computational load. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm efficiently classifies the shapes of obstacles around the robot in real time with low computational load.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2005

In the paper, we propose an intelligent walking algorithm of biped robot on the uneven ground and a posture stabilization algorithm against external forces. At first, the mechanics and the control system of biped robot that can walk on the uneven ground and stand external forces are designed. We propose obstacle hurdling, incline walking. and going-up stairs algorithm by using infrared sensors and FSR sensors. Also, posture stabilization algorithm against external forces is designed using FSR sensors. Infrared sensors ate used to detect the obstacles in the working environment and FSR sensors are used to obtain the ZMP of biped robot. The developed biped robot can be controlled by the remote control system using vision system and RF module. The experimental results show that the biped robot Performs obstacle avoidance, obstacle hurdling, walking on the inclined plane, and going up stairs using the proposed walking and stabilization algorithm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1250-1258
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• 1997

This paper reports on the development of a new foot for a quadrupedal jointed-leg type walking robot. The foot has 2 toes, one at the front and the other at the rear side, for stable landing on uneven ground by point contact. The toes can move up and down independantly, guided by double-wishbone shaped parallel links which enable the lower leg to rotate with respect to a remote center on the ground surface. The motion of each toe is damped by a hydropneumatic shock absorber integrated in the foot in order to absorb the dynamic landing shock. Furthermore, the new foot can reduce the maximum hip joint drive torque by shortening the moment arm length between the hip joint and the landing force vector on the ground. Intensive experiments were carried out in this study by using a one-leg walking model to investigate the soft landing performance of the foot which could be hardly offered by conventional robot feet such as a flat plate with a gimbal type ankle joint. And it was confirmed that the hip joint torque of the leg walking on the flat surface could be reduced remarkably by using the new foot.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.157-163
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• 2011

In this paper, configuration control for the Horizontal Maintenance and driving of the mobile inverted pendulum robot has been studied using ARS(Attitude Refrence System). The inverted pendulum technique is getting attention and there have been many researches on the seg-way since the US. Using its 2 freedom, a mobile inverted pendulum robot can move in various modes and Our robot performs goal reaching ARS. Mobile inverted pendulum robot fall down to the forward or reverse direction to converge to the stable point. Kalman Filter is normally used for the algorithm and numerous research is progressing at the moment. To calculate the attitude in ARS using 2 axis gyro(roll, pitch) and 3 axis accelerometers (x, y, z). In this paper we present a two wheel robot system for an autonomous mobile robot. This paper realized the robot control method which is much simpler but able to get desired performance by using the IMU and PID control.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.353-358
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• 2011

This paper presents a virtual-legged walking model for bipedal robots and analyzes its fundamental RPY(Roll, Pitch, and Yaw) motion effects by simulation. For the purpose of identifying the motion effects of the bipedal walking, we assign some arbitrary trajectories both at the center of mass and at the center of pressure of the robot based on human walking. And then we verify the major moments to the roll, pitch, and yaw directions of the robot. As a result, it is shown that those motions are natural in the process of bipedal walking and they are deeply dependent on the step distance, the vertical level of the center of mass, and the acceleration of the robot. The importance of trajectory planning for the footstep location during a bipedal walking is finally addressed in terms of balance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.825-837
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• 2017

This paper describes a novel type of a walking rehabilitation robot that applies robot technologies to crutches used by patients with walking difficulties in the lower body. The primary features of the developed robot are divided into three parts. First, the developed robot is worn on the patient's chest, as opposed to the conventional elbow crutch that is attached to the forearm; hence, it can effectively disperse the patient's weight throughout the width of the chest, and eliminate the concentrated load at the elbow. Furthermore, it allows free arm motion during walking. Second, the developed robot can recognize the walking intention of the patient from the magnitude and direction of the ground reactive forces. This is done using three-axis force sensors attached to the feet of the robot. Third, the robot can perform a stair walking function, which can change vertical movement trajectories in order to step up and down a single stair according to the floor height. Consequently, we experimentally showed that the developed robot can effectively perform walking rehabilitation assistance by perceiving the walking intention of the patient. Moreover we quantitatively verified muscle power assistance by measuring the electromyography (EMG) signals of the muscles of the lower limb.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.585-592
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• 2014

In this study, a multibody simulator was developed to analyze the bio-mimetic motion of a lizard robot design. A RecurDyn multibody dynamics model of a lizard was created using a micro-computerized tomography scan and motion capture data. The bio-mimetic motion simulator consisted of a trajectory generator, an inverse kinematics module, and an inverse dynamics module, which were used for various walking motion analyses of the developed lizard model. The trajectory generation module produces spinal movements and gait trajectories based on the lizard's speed. Using the joint angle history from an inverse kinematic analysis, an inverse dynamic analysis can be carried out, and the required joint torques can be obtained for the lizard robot design. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the developed simulator, the required joint torques of the model were calculated using the simulator.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2011

This paper is concerned with locomotion of dog-like quadruped robots that can adapt to various terrains, mainly dealing with implementation methods and characteristics of static and dynamic gaits. To this end, a 12-DOF robot is built in house, motional trajectories of its body and feet are generated mimicking biological life, and the corresponding leg joint angles are analytically obtained by inverse kinematics. Such joint angle data are then applied to the robot's ADAMS model for computer simulations so that the planned walk and trot gaits are both confirmed dynamically stable. However, contrary to the simulation results, previous trot patterns showed unstable behavior during experiments. This problem led us to analyze the reason, and in the course we discovered the importance of maximally utilizing the concept of WSM rather than ZMP and therefore reducing the gait period to secure the stability of dynamic gaits such as trot.