• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.503-515
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• 2011

We developed a walking-assistance robot for walking rehabilitation and assessed the kinematic characteristics of a prototype. The walking-assistance robot is composed of hip, knee, and ankle joints, and each joint is driven by a motor with a decelerator. The equations of angular displacement while walking were derived by theoretically analyzing human locomotion, and the calculated angular displacements were then applied to the robot controller. The output angular displacement of each joint was measured and compared with its input angular displacement in walking experiments on a treadmill at various walking speeds and strides. The differences between the input and output angular displacements are 5.22% for the hip and 2.97% for the knee joints, and it has been confirmed that the walking-assistance robot works well.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.227-234
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• 2011

The Interest in robotics has been steadily increasing in recent times both in Korea as well as abroad. Research on robots for new and diverse fields is ongoing. This study discusses the current research and development on robot actuator, which are used to control the joints of robots, and focuses on developing more efficient technology for joint control, as compared with the current technologies. It also aims to find means to apply the abovementioned technology to diverse industrial fields. We found that easy and effective control of actuators could be achieved by using ZigBee sensor networks, which were widely being used on wireless communications. Throughout the experiments it is proved that the developed wireless actuator could be used for easy control of various robot joints. This technology can be effectively applied to develop two-legged robots that will be able to walk like human, or even quadruped and hexapod robots. It can also be applied to motors used in industry. In this study, we develop an extremely minimized ZigBee sensor network module that can be used to control various servo motors with low power consumption even if it is long distances. We realized effective wireless control by optimizing the ZigBee antenna, and were able to quickly check the status of relevant Tree node through mutual communication between the servo motors composing the ZigBee sensor network and the main server control modules. The developed Servo Motor with ZigBee sensor network modules can be applied in both robotics as well as for home or factory automation.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.513-518
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• 2016

The Mechanisms of whole body vibration on the human body is not clearly presented despite of the research result and there is not enough research that shows the effects of vibration on the kinetic changes of the lower joint. Therefore, this study focuses on finding out which lower joint is related with kinetic vertical jump ability. Five male and five female who didn't have orthopedic history were selected as the subjects. The subjects carried out three squat jumps before and after 5minutes of 30Hz whole body vibration. We have utilized a 3D motion analysis system to analyze the kinetic changes of the lower joint in the vertical jump. The height of subjects squat jump was improved after whole body vibration treatment. Also, the lower joint moment and power increased. However, there were no statistically significant changes in GRF, hip joint moment and power after the whole body vibration proved to have positive effect on the ankle and knee joints but showed negative effect on the hip joint.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.117-125
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• 2015

In the modern age, it is important for people to maintain a good sitting posture because they spend long hours sitting. Posture correction treatment requires a great deal of time and expenses with continuous observation by a specialist. Therefore, there is a need for a system with which users can judge and correct their postures on their own. In this study, we collected users' postures and judged whether they are normal or abnormal. To obtain a user's posture, we propose a four-joint motion capture system that uses inertial sensors. The system collects the subject's postures, and features are extracted from the collected data to build a database. The data in the DB are classified into normal and abnormal postures after posture learning using the K-means clustering algorithm. An experiment was performed to classify the posture from the joints' rotation angles and positions; the normal posture judgment reached a success rate of 99.79%. This result suggests that the features of the four joints can be used to judge and help correct a user's posture through application to a spinal disease prevention system in the future.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.115-127
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• 2016

Shoulder pain, injury and discomfort are public health and economic issues world-wide. The function of these joints and the stresses developed during their movement is a major concern to the orthopedic surgeon to study precisely the injury mechanisms and thereby analyze the post-operative progress of the injury. Shoulder is one of the most critical joints in the human anatomy with maximum degrees of freedom. It mainly consists of the clavicle, scapula and humerus; the articulations linking them; and the muscles that move them. In order to understand the behavior of individual muscle during abduction arm movement, an attempt has been made to analyze the stresses developed in the shoulder muscles during abduction arm movement during the full range of motion by using the 3D FEM model. 3D scanning (ATOS III scanner) is used for the 3D shoulder joint cad model generation in CATIA V5. Muscles are added and then exported to the ANSYS APDL solver for stress analysis. Sensitivity Analysis is done for stress and strain behavior amongst different shoulder muscles; deltoid, supraspinatus, teres minor, infraspinatus, and subscapularies during adduction arm movement. During the individual deltoid muscle analysis, the von Mises stresses induced in deltoid muscle was maximum (4.2175 MPa) and in group muscle analysis it was (2.4127MPa) compared to other individual four rotor cuff muscles. The study confirmed that deltoid muscle is more sensitive muscle for the abduction arm movement during individual and group muscle analysis. The present work provides in depth information to the researchers and orthopedicians for the better understanding about the shoulder mechanism and the most stressed muscle during the abduction arm movement at different ROM. So during rehabilitation, the orthopedicians should focus on strengthening the deltoid muscles at earliest.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2019

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the peak torques of the knee and ankle joint and local stability of the lower extremity's joints, and muscle activation patterns of the lower extremity's muscles between fallers and non-fallers in the elderly women during walking. Method: Four elderly women (age: $74.5{\pm}5.2yrs.$; height: $152.1{\pm}5.6cm$; mass: $55.3{\pm}5.4kg$; preference walking speed: $1.19{\pm}0.06m/s$) who experienced falls within six months since experiment had been conducted (falls group) and thirty-six subjects ($74.2{\pm}3.09yrs.$; height: $153.6{\pm}4.9cm$; mass: $56.7{\pm}6.4kg$; preference walking speed: $1.24{\pm}0.10m/s$) who had no experience in falls (non-falls group) within this periods participated in this study. They were measured torque peaks of the knee and ankle joint using a Human Norm and while they were walking on a treadmill at their natural pace, kinematic variables and EMG signals were collected with using a 3-D motion capture system and a wireless EMG system, respectively. Lyapunov Exponent (LyE) was determined to observe the dynamic local stability of the lower extremity's joints, and muscles activation and their co-contraction index were also analysed from EMG signals. Hypotheses between falls and non-falls group were tested using paired t-test and Mann-Whitey. Level of significance was set at p<.05. Results: Local dynamic stability in the adduction-abduction movement of the knee joint was significantly lower in falling group than non-falling group (p<.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, muscles which act on the abduction-adduction movement of the knee joint need to be strengthened to prevent from potential falls during walking. However, a small number of samples for fallers make it difficult to generalize the results of this study.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2010

The purposes of this study was to investigate the biomechanical influence of the walking shoe with a plate spring in the heel and interchangeable heel cushioning elements. Eighteen subjects walked in three conditions: 1) the walking shoes Type A-1 with a soft heel insert, 2) the Type A-2 shoe with a stiff heel insert, 3) a general walking shoe(Type B). Ground reaction forces, leg movements, leg muscle activity and ankle, knee and hip joint loading were measured and calculated during overground walking. During walking, the ankle is a few degrees more dorsiflexed during landing and the knee is slightly more flexed during takeoff with the Type A shoes. As a result of the changes in the walking movement, the ground reaction forces are applied more quickly and the peak magnitudes are higher. Muscle activity of the quadricep, hamstring and calf muscles decrease during the first 25% of the stance phase when walking in the Type A shoes. The resultant joint moments at the ankle, knee and hip joints decrease from 30-40% with the largest reductions occurring during landing.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.387-392
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• 2017

Recently, road cave-ins, also referred to as ground sinking, have become a problem in urban environments. Public utility facilities such as sewage pipelines, communications pipes, gas pipes, power cables, and other types of underground structures are installed below the roads. It was reported that cave-ins are caused by the aging and lack of proper maintenance of underground facilities, as well as by construction problems. A road cave-in is first initiated by the formation of cavities typically induced by the breakage of underground pipelines. The cavities then grow and reach the base of the pavement. The traffic load applied at the surface of the roads causes an abrupt plastic deformation. This type of accident can be considered as a type of disaster. A road cave-in can threaten both human safety and the economy. It may even result in the loss of human life. In the city of Seoul, efforts to prevent damage before cave-ins occur have been prioritized, through a method of discovering and repairing joints through the 3D GPR survey.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.441-447
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• 2017

Robot arms are being increasingly used in various fields with special attention given to unmanned systems. In this research, we developed a high payload dual-arm robot, in which the forearm module is replaceable to meet the assigned task, such as object handling or lifting humans in a rescue operation. With each forearm module specialized for an assigned task (e.g. safety for rescue and redundant joints for object handling task), the robot can conduct various tasks more effectively than could be done previously. In this paper, the design of the high payload dual-arm robot with replaceable forearm function is described in detail. Two forearms are developed here. Each of forearm has quite a different goal. One of the forearms is specialized for human rescue in human familiar flat aspect and compliance parts. Other is for general heavy objects, more than 30 kg, handling with high degree of freedom more than 7.

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.14 no.4 s.44
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• pp.117-135
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• 2005

This paper is a study of the possibility of experience and expression in the architecture of Louis I. Kahn by focusing on the characters of entrance, court and window/wall of his public buildings. In the course of composition, Kahn defined the entrance, court and window/wall as an connecting elements and elements of boundary. The characters revealed by these elements or rooms give the clue to insight Kahn's thought of relation of interior and exterior space or inner and outer space. Following are the characters of these elements. First, a entrance reveals the fact that inner space separates from outer space by connecting these two space and giving the value to inner space as the entity and totality like outer space. The entrance gives its ontological being to human subjects not by vision but experience and expression which is the essence of commonness, that is, Silence. Kahn made the possibility of activity amplify in this common and silent space. Second, this entrance is connected with wide and huge central space not individual spaces of interior space. This extreme procedure of entering makes human subject feel sublime of intoner space. And the central spaces becomes another exterior or another world in the inner world of architecture by the lights from above and by having the boundary wall which shows same pattern of exterior wall. Third, Kahn regarded a window as the giver of lights not as the medium of vision connecting inner space with outer. He tried to connect interior with exterior through the being and character of the light expressed in the interior. And in his buildings, interior space is connected with exterior by expressing the purpose of building, composition of inner space, structural truth and construction facts through the Form, a pattern of wall, details and ornamental joints. By practicing this thoughts in the real buildings, Kahn tried to gave aura to both the interior space and entity of architecture which is regarded as micro universe like flowers, rocks and human beings.