• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 2004

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.49-57
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of 12-week elastic resistance exercise for the elderly on the magnitude of frequency and variability of ground reaction force signals. To this aim, total 12 elderly women aged in their 70 were participated in this study and asked to do a 12-week elastic resistance exercise program. FFT(fast Fourier Transform) was used to analyze the frequency domain analysis of the ground reaction forces's signals and an accumulative PSD (power spectrum density) normalized by support phase of walking was calculated to reconstruct the certain signals. To estimate the gait stability between the before and after exercise, values of variability were determined in a coefficient of variance. The magnitude of frequency and variability analysis for media-lateral signal revealed significantly less after exercise (p<.05). In contrast, variability of this signal's frequency that have used to evaluate the local stability during walking exhibited significantly greater after exercise(p<.05). In summary, magnitude frequency and variability of media-lateral ground reaction force's signal were significantly changed after a 12-week elastic resistance exercise.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2009

Recently, the interest on walking assistances in order to assist aged people has increased due to the increase of the aged. However, most walking aid systems have a weakness for a slope because they don't have power. So, they have a weak point which makes users difficult to move when they are weak in the legs. That is why the interest on walking assistances with power has increased. The use of the walking aid systems should be easy because most users are old people. Thus, we produce module to grasp walking intent of users by using various sensors such as potentiometer, FSR(Force Sensing Resistance) Sensor and Stretch Sensor and calculate the response time to the module. Firstly, the response time of handlebar which is a kind of potentiometer is 420ms and Resilience of it is 140ms. Secondly, the response time of handlebar which use FSR Sensor is 320ms and Resilience of it is 220ms. Finally, the response time of the Stretch Sensor is 160ms and Resilience of it is 140ms. The performance of Stretch Sensor is the best among the three kind of sensors.

• 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.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.46.1-46
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• 2001

This paper describes a control method of hybrid power assistive system for lower body, HAL, with the techniques of Phase Sequence and the application of EMG. Our objective is to attain the power assist control of motion in the lower body effectively with these two methods. The Phase Sequence which performs basic motion controls of HAL is the method that a motion, the Task, is accomplished by dividing each motion into the unit named Phase and ...

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.363-375
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• 2015

Objective: This study aims to recognize the risk of current traffic systems and to investigate a method to decrease risk by doing exercise using an elastic-band and cognitive rehabilitation. Background: The existing traffic system usually focuses on the ordinary citizens, which may not be appropriate to the elderly. It may affect the cognition and walking speed of the elderly. This study tries to examine whether cognition and muscle training is appropriate to improve their vulnerability. Therefore this study will provide human ergonomics - based basic data in relation to the elderly to identify the risk of current signal system and to mitigate the risk. Method: A total of 30 elderly participants were divided into two groups: experimental and control groups. Experimental group (n=15) was trained to strengthen their muscles and to promote cognition, whereas control group (n=15) was not. The training was conducted twice a week for three weeks. To strengthen muscles, a yellow colored elastic-band was used, and a computer program for cognitive rehabilitation was used to develop cognition. In the experimental group, there were significant differences between pre and post exercises However, the control group didn't show any significant difference. The increase in cognition and walking speed was found in the experimental group, whereas there were no differences in the control group. Statistically there was no significant difference between the two groups. Results: The results of this study show that the exercise program using the elastic-band gave a positive effect on gait training thanks to the development of muscle power and balance. Conclusion: This study did not show any statistical difference or significant differences between the two groups, since time was restricted, we believe. Application: The results of the walking speed will help to prevent traffic collision.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.131-143
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• 2020

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if an exercise program with vertical vibration can improve balance, walking speed, muscle strength and falls efficacy in the healthy elderly. METHODS: A total of 28 elderly were randomly divided into two groups: vertical vibration exercise group (exercise with vertical vibration) (N = 14) and control group (exercise without vibration) (N = 14). The exercise program, comprising calf raise, deep-squat, semi-squat, front lunge, and leg abduction was conducted with or without vibration, respectively. Subjects in each group participated in the 30 minutes training program, 2 times per week for 6 weeks. In both groups, the balance evaluation system (BT4) was used to evaluate standing balance, and walking speed was measured using the 10MWT. The manual muscle test system was applied to evaluate the knee extensor and ankle planter flexor muscle strength of the subjects, whereas the Korean falls efficacy scale (K-FES) evaluated the falls efficacy. RESULTS: After intervention, the vertical vibration group showed significantly higher changes compared to the control group, in the parameters of standing balance (P < .05), 10MWT (P < .05), left knee extensor (P < .05), right knee extensor (P < .01), both ankle plantar flexors (P < .05), and K-FES (P < .05). CONCLUSION: The exercise program with vertical vibration has the potential to improve balance, walking speed, muscle power and falls efficacy in the elderly.

• 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.439-446
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• 2014

An amphibious inspection robot system (hereafter AIROS) is being developed to visually inspect the in-containment refueling storage water tank (hereafter IRWST) strainer in APR1400 instead of a human diver. Four IRWST strainers are located in the IRWST, which is filled with boric acid water. Each strainer has 108 sub-assembly strainer fin modules that should be inspected with the VT-3 method according to Reg. guide 1.82 and the operation manual. AIROS has 6 thrusters for submarine voyage and 4 legs for walking on the top of the strainer. An inverse kinematic algorithm was implemented in the robot controller for exact walking on the top of the IRWST strainer. The IRWST strainer has several top cross braces that are extruded on the top of the strainer, which can be obstacles of walking on the strainer, to maintain the frame of the strainer. Therefore, a robot leg should arrive at the position beside the top cross brace. For this reason, we used an image processing technique to find the top cross brace in the sole camera image. The sole camera image is processed to find the existence of the top cross brace using the cross edge detection algorithm in real time. A 5-DOF robot arm that has multiple camera modules for simultaneous inspection of both sides can penetrate narrow gaps. For intuitive presentation of inspection results and for management of inspection data, inspection images are stored in the control PC with camera angles and positions to synthesize and merge the images. The synthesized images are then mapped in a 3D CAD model of the IRWST strainer with the location information. An IRWST strainer mock-up was fabricated to teach the robot arm scanning and gaiting. It is important to arrive at the designated position for inserting the robot arm into all of the gaps. Exact position control without anchor under the water is not easy. Therefore, we designed the multi leg robot for the role of anchoring and positioning. Quadruped robot design of installing sole cameras was a new approach for the exact and stable position control on the IRWST strainer, unlike a traditional robot for underwater facility inspection. The developed robot will be practically used to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the inspection of nuclear power plant components.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.111-122
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• 2023

Objective : To identify the effect of lifestyle risk factors on the daily activities and cognition of the older adults in the community using the National Health Insurance Corporation 2015 geriatric cohort database. Methods : Lifestyle risk factors were defined as body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking, vigorous exercise, moderate exercise, and walking, and basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) and cognitive function variables were included in the analysis. ADL and cognitive function according to sex and age were analyzed using a t-test and one-way ANOVA. The correlation between lifestyle risk factors, ADL, and cognitive function was analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze their influence. Results : The factors affecting basic ADL (BADL) were sex and walking exercises, with an explanatory power of 1.7%. Instrumental ADL (IADL) included age, drinking, and walking exercises, with an explanatory power of 2.6%. Cognitive function included sex, age, BMI, vigorous exercise, and walking, with an explanatory power of 5.3%. Conclusion : Lifestyle risk factors partially affected BADLs/IADLs and cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults. This suggests the need to systematically manage lifestyle risk factors to improve and maintain the healthy lives of older adults facing biological aging.