• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.43 no.5 s.311
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• pp.19-27
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• 2006

Improvement in gait stability of fault-tolerant gaits for quadruped robots is addressed in this paper. The previously developed fault-tolerant gait gives a quadruped robot the ability to continue its walk against the occurrence of a leg failure. But it has a drawback of having marginal gait stability, which may lead to tumbling when the robot body's center of gravity is perturbed. To overcome such a drawback, a novel fault-tolerant gait is presented in this paper that generates positive stability margin against a locked joint failure, in which a joint of a leg is locked in a known place. Positive stability margin is obtained by adjusting foot positions of supporting legs between leg swing sequences. The advantages of the proposed fault-tolerant gait are discussed by comparing with the previous gait in terms of gait stability, stride length and gait velocity.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2005

Usual human gait can be modeled as continual impact phenomenon that happens due to the topological change of the kinematic structure of the two feet. The human being adapts his own control algorithm to minimize the ill effect due to the collision with the environment. In order to operate a Humanoid robot like the human being, it is necessary to understand the physics of the impact and to derive an analytical model of the impact. In this paper, specially, we focus on impact analysis of the kicking motion in playing soccer. At the instant of impact, the external impulse exerted on the ball by the foot is an important property. Initially, we introduce the complete external impulse model of the lower-extremity of the human body and analyze the external impulses for several kicking postures of the lower-extremity. Secondly, a trajectory-planning algorithm of a ball, in which the initial velocity and the launch angle of the ball are calculated for a desired trajectory of the ball, will be introduced. The aerodynamic effect such as drag force and lift force is also considered. We carry out numerical simulation and experimentation to verify the effectiveness of the proposed analytical methodology.

• 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.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.132-143
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• 2017

While working in an industrial environment which requires extended periods of upright posture; workers tend to develop muscle fatigue due to the constant load on lower-limb muscles. In addition, when working while bending knees; muscle fatigue of lower back and hamstrings is increased due to the abnormal posture. This can lead to damage of muscles, induce musculoskeletal disorders, and reduce long-term working efficiency. Recent medical studies have shown that long-term working in an upright posture can induce musculoskeletal disorders such as foot fatigue, edema, pain and varicose veins. Likewise, medical and rehabilitation expenses have grown due to the increase in musculoskeletal conditions suffered by workers. For this problem, we aim to develop a device that can reduce the physical fatigue on the lower limbs by supporting the weight of workers during the extended periods of upright and bending postures in the industrial environments. In this paper, we have designed and manufactured a wearable weight support system; with a user intention algorithm that the users can maintain various postures. For validation of the developed system, we measured the muscle activity of the users wearing the system with EMG sensors.