• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.41-42
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.43-44
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• 2010

• 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 Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.141-146
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to develop the algorithm which can control muscle power assist robot especially for elderly. Recently, wearable robots for power assistance are developed by many researchers, and its application fields are also variable such as for medical or military equipment. However, there are many technical barriers to develop the wearable robot. This study suggest a control method improving performance of a wearable robot system by using a EMG signal of major muscles and a force sensor signal as command signal of system. The result of the robot Prototype efficiency experiment, the case of Maximum Isometric motion it suggest 100% power of muscle, the man need only 66% of MVIC(Maximum Voluntary Isometric Contraction) to lift 5kg dumbbell without robot assist. However the man needs only 52% of MVIC to lift 5kg dumbbell with robot assist. Therefore 20% muscle power increased with robot assist. Also, we designed light weight robot mechanism that extract the command signal verified and drive the wanted motions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.879-883
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• 2015

Conventional gait rehabilitation requires at least three therapists in a traditional rehabilitation training program. Several robots have been developed to reduce human burden and increase rehabilitation efficacy. In this study, we present a lower-limb wearable robot (WA-H) for gait rehabilitation of hemiplegia patients, and propose a protocol of 12 weeks gait rehabilitation training program using WA-H. To identify the efficacy of the robot and protocols, we conducted a clinical study with two actual hemiplegia patients and observed a chronological change of ambulation ability through four assessments. We discovered the progression of results by 6 minute walking test, TUGT (Timed Up and Go Test), SPPB (Short Physical Performance Battery), BBS (Berg Balance Test), and Fugl-Meyer score. The torques generated in the normal side and paralyzed side of the patient became similar, indicating rehabilitation. The result also showed the walking of the paralysis patient improved and imbalance motion had considerable improved performance.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.731-736
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• 2023

Walking is a periodic motion that contains specific phases and is a basic movement method for humans. Through gait analysis, various musculoskeletal health conditions can be identified. In this study, we propose a calf wearable sensor system that can perform gait analysis without space limitations. Using a ToF(: Time-of-Flight) sensor that measures distance and an IMU(: Inertial Measurement Unit) sensor that measures inclination the heel trajectory of walking was derived by proposed method. In case of abnormal gait with risk of fall, gait is evaluated by analyzing the change pattern of the heel trajectory.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.303-304
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• 2013

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.144-151
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• 2017

An important characteristic of people with partially impaired walking ability, such as incomplete paraplegics, is that they are able to generate voluntary motion of lower-limbs. Therefore, wearable robots for the incomplete paraplegic patients require a different assistance method compared to those of complete paraplegics. First, the wearable robot should be controlled to not resist wearer's motion. Second, it should be able to generate assistive torque accurately when needed. In this paper, a wearable robot, called EROWA, for the incomplete paraplegic patients is introduced. EROWA utilizes compact rotary series elastic actuators (cRSEAs) and a control method called the zero impedance control to reduce the mechanical resistance. An assistive torque trajectory is proposed to assist gait in this paper. The proposed method is verified by simulation and experimental studies.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.374-380
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• 2010

This paper proposes a wearable interface for a tendon-driven robotic hand prosthesis. The proposed interface is composed of a dataglove to measure finger and wrist joint angle, and a micro-control board with a wireless RF module. The interface is used for posture control of the robotic hand prosthesis. The measured joint angles by the dataglove are transferred to the main controller via the wireless module. The controller works for directly controlling the joint angle of the hand or for recognizing hand postures using a pattern recognition method such as LDA and k-NN. The recognized hand postures in this study are the paper, the rock, the scissors, the precision grasp, and the tip grasp. In experiments, we show the performances of the wearable interface including the pattern recognition method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.175-176
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• 2008