• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

This paper describes the design of an ankle rehabilitation robot for the force measurement of a severe stroke patient staying in a bed ward. The developed ankle rehabilitation robot was attached to a three-axis force/torque sensor that could detect force Fx, Fz, and torque Tz and measure the ankle rotation force (Fx) exerted on the ankle and the signal force Fz and torque Tz to be used as a safety device. The robot was designed and manufactured for bedridden stroke patients, and the robot program was manufactured to perform the flexibility rehabilitation exercise for ankle bending and to measure the ankle force to judge the degree of rehabilitation. According to the result of the characteristics test of the developed rehabilitation robot, it was safely operated while the ankle-bending flexibility rehabilitation exercise and the emergency situation were performed. Therefore, it is thought that the developed rehabilitation robot can be used for severe stroke patients.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.357-363
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• 2013

Most serious patients who have the paralysis of their ankles can't use of their feet freely. But their ankles can be recovered by an ankle bending rehabilitation exercise and a ankle rotating rehabilitation exercise. Recently, the professional rehabilitation therapeutists are much less than stroke patients in number. Therefore, the ankle-rehabilitation robot should be developed. The developed robot can be dangerous because it can't measure the applied bending force and twisting moment of the patients' ankles. In this paper, the six-axis force/moment sensor for the ankle-rehabilitation robot was specially designed the weight of foot and the applied force to foot in rehabilitation exercise. As a test results, the interference error of the six-axis force/moment sensor was less than 2.51%. It is thought that the sensor can be used to measure the bending force and twisting moment of the patients' ankles in rehabilitation exercise.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.419-428
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• 2007

This paper describes the development of a six-axis force/moment sensor with rectangular taper beams for an intelligent robot's wrist and ankle. In order to accurately push and pull an object with an intelligent robot's hand, and in order to safely walk with an intelligent robot's foot, the robot's wrist and ankle should measure three forces Fx, Fy, and Fz, and three moments Mx, My, and Mz simultaneously from the mounted six-axis force/moment sensor to the intelligent robot's wrist and ankle. Unfortunately, the developed six-axis force/moment sensor utilized in other industrial fields is not proper for an intelligent robot's wrist and ankle in the size and the rated output of the six-axis force/moment sensor. In this paper, the structure of a six-axis force/moment sensor with rectangular taper beams was newly modeled for an intelligent robot's wrist and ankle, and the sensing elements were designed by using the derived equations, following which the six-axis force/moment sensor was fabricated by attaching strain-gages on the sensing elements. Moreover, the characteristic test of the developed sensor was carried out by using the six-component force/moment sensor testing machine. The rated outputs from the derived equations agree well with those from the experiments. The interference error of the sensor is less than 2.87%.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.463-469
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• 2019

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of plantar-flexor muscle fatigue on the force sense and joint reposition sense of ankle joints in the healthy adults. Methods: Fifteen healthy subjects (male: 9, female: 6) participated in this study. A digital dynamometer was used to measure the force sense error while a wireless motion capture device was used to measure the joint reposition sense error. To induce plantar-flexor muscle fatigue for a dominant lower extremity, the subjects were asked to perform plantar flexion until exhaustion while barefoot. The differences in force sense error and joint reposition sense error for the ankle joint were measured immediately. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare these values before and after inducing plantar-flexor muscle fatigue. Results: The force sense error and joint reposition sense error of ankle joints after inducing plantar-flexor muscle fatigue increased significantly compared to the values before inducing muscle fatigue. Conclusion: This study suggests that plantar-flexor muscle fatigue could degrade the force sense and joint reposition sense in ankle joints. In addition, it could deteriorate ankle proprioception.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.5 s.170
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• pp.197-204
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• 2005

In this study, ground reaction force(GRF), absolute symmetry index(ASI) and coefficient of variation(CV) of fixed, single-axis and multi-axis prosthetic ankle assemblies were investigated to show the biomechanical evaluation for above knee amputees. In the experiments, 37 normal male volunteers, two male and two female AK amputees were tested with fixed, single-axis and multi-axis prosthetic ankle assembly. A gait analysis was carried out to derive the ratio of GRF to weight as the percentage of total stance phase for ten points. The results showed that fixed-axis ankle was superior to the other two ankle assemblies for the characteristic of forwarding and breaking forces. Multi-axis ankle was relatively superior to the other two ankle assemblies for gait balancing and movement of the center for mass. single-axis ankle was relatively superior to the other two ankle assemblies for CV and ASI of GRF.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.193-197
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of calf muscle Kinesio taping on ankle joint reposition sense (JRS) and force sense (FS) in healthy elderly. Methods: Thirteen healthy elderly subjects were participated in this study. The error of ankle JRS and FS was evaluated by 3D motion capture device and digital dynamometer depending on three different taping conditions (Kinesio taping, sham taping, and no taping) respectively. All of subjects were asked to perform a proprioceptive task of ankle JRS and FS. One-way repeated ANOVA test was used to compare the error of JRS and FS depending on three different taping conditions. Results: With Kinesio taping over calf muscle, ankle joint reposition sense error and force sense error significantly decreased, if compared with a sham taping or no taping condition. Conclusion: To apply Kinesio taping over calf muscle could enhance ankle proprioceptive sense in the elderly people.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2016

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of joint mobilization on foot pressure, ankle moment, and vertical ground reaction force in subjects with ankle instability. Method: Twenty male subjects (age, $25.38{\pm}3.62yr$; height, $170.92{\pm}5.41cm$; weight, $60.74{\pm}9.63kg$; body mass index (BMI), $19.20{\pm}1.67kg/m^2$) participated and underwent ankle joint mobilization. Weight-bearing distribution, ankle dorsi/plantar flexion moment, and vertical ground reaction force were measured using a GPS 400 and a VICON Motion System (Oxford, UK), and subsequently analyzed. SPSS 20.0 for Windows was used for data processing and paired t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-mobilization measurements. The significance level was set at ${\alpha}$ = .05. Results: The results indicated changes in weight-bearing, ankle dorsi/plantar flexion moment, and vertical ground reaction force. The findings showed changes in weight-bearing distribution on the left (pre $29.51{\pm}6.31kg$, post $29.57{\pm}5.02kg$) and right foot (pre $32.40{\pm}6.30kg$, post $31.18{\pm}5.47kg$). There were significant differences in dorsi/plantar flexion moment (p < .01), and there were significant increases in vertical ground reaction forces at initial stance (Fz1) and terminal stance (Fz2, p < .05). Additionally, there was a significant reduction in vertical ground reaction force at midstance (Fz2, p < .001). Conclusion: Joint mobilization appears to alter weight-bearing distribution in subjects with ankle instability, with resultant improvements in stability.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.353-359
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• 2017

This paper describes the design and manufacture of a ankle two-axis force sensor of a walking assist robot for hemiplegic leg patient. The walking assist robot for the hemiplegic leg patient can safely control the robot by detecting whether the foot wearing the walking assist robot is in contact with the obstacle or not. To do so, a two-axis force sensor should be attached to the robot's ankle. The sensor is used to measure the force of a patient's ankle lower part. The two-axis force sensor is composed of a Fx force sensor, a Fy force sensor and a pulley, and they detect the x and y direction forces, respectively. The two-axis force sensor was designed using by FEM(Finite Element Method), and manufactured using by strain-gages. The characteristics experiment of the two-axis force sensor was carried out respectively. The test results indicated that the interference error of the two-axis force sensor was less than 1.2%, the repeatability error and the non-linearity of the two-axis force sensor was less than 0.04% respectively. Therefore, the fabricated two-axis force sensor can be used to measure the force of ankle lower part in the walking assist robot.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2010

Ankle-foot orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator, which is intended for the assistance and the enhancement of ankle muscular activities was developed. In this study, the effectiveness of the system was investigated during plantarflexion motion of ankle joint. To find a effectiveness of the system, the subjects performed maximal voluntary isokinetic plantarflexion contraction on a Biodex-dynamometer. Plantarfexion torque of the ankle joint is assisted by subject's soleus muscle that is generated when ankle joint do plantarflexion motion. We used the muscular stiffness signal of a soleus muscle for feedback control of ankle-foot orthosis as physiological signal. For measurement of this signal, we made the muscular stiffness force sensor. We compared a muscular stiffness force of a soleus muscle between with feedback control and without it and a maximal plantarflexion torque between not wearing a ankle-foot orthosis, without feedback control wearing it and with feedback control wearing it in each ten elderly adults. The experimental result showed that a muscular stiffness force of a soleus muscle with feedback control was reduced and plantarflexion torque of an ankle joint only wearing ankle-foot orthosis was reduced but a plantarflexion torque with feedback control was increased. The amount of a increasing with feedback control is more higher than the amount of a decreasing only wearing it. Therefore, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed ankle-foot orthosis with feedback control.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate how the chronic ankle instability affects postural control during forward jump landing. Method: 20 women with chronic ankle instability (age: 21.7 ± 1.6 yrs, height: 162.1 ± 3.7 cm, weight: 52.2 ± 5.8 kg) and 20 healthy adult women (age: 21.8 ± 1.6 yrs, height: 161.9 ± 4.4 cm, weight: 52.9 ± 7.2 kg) participated in this study. For the forward jump participants were instructed to stand on two legs at a distance of 40% of their body height from the center of force plate. Participants were jump forward over a 15 cm hurdle to the force plate and land on their non-dominant or affected leg. Kinetic and kinematic data were obtained using 8 motion capture cameras and 1 force plates and joint angle, vertical ground reaction force and center of pressure. All statistical analyses were using SPSS 25.0 program. The differences in variables between the two groups were compared through an independent sample t-test, and the significance level was to p < .05. Results: In the hip and knee joint angle, the CAI group showed a smaller flexion angle than the control group, and the knee joint valgus angle was significantly larger. In the case of ankle joint, the CAI group showed a large inversion angle at all events. In the kinetic variables, the vGRF was significantly greater in the CAI group than control group at IC and mGRF. In COP Y, the CAI group showed a lateral shifted center of pressure. Conclusion: Our results indicated that chronic ankle instability decreases the flexion angle of the hip and knee joint, increases the valgus angle of the knee joint, and increases the inversion angle of the ankle joint during landing. In addition, an increase in the maximum vertical ground reaction force and a lateral shifted center of pressure were observed. This suggests that chronic ankle instability increases the risk of non-contact knee injury as well as the risk of lateral ankle sprain during forward jump landing.