• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to compare the electromyography signal's power spectrum mean and median tendencies appearing in the lower extremity during walking while wearing roller shoes. 9 male subjects volunteered who have no experience riding inline-skate or roller-skate, and have no record of musculoskeletal disorder. Subjects walked on treadmill twice for an hour (Once a week, one trial with the roller on and the other without roller, Walking velocity = 1.39 m/s). Electromyography was measured every 15 minute (0, 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes). Surface electrode sticked muscle at rectus femoris(R.F.), vastus lateralis(V.L.), vastus medialis(V.M.), biceps femoris(B.F.), tibialis anterior(T.A.), gastrocnemius lateralis(G.L.), gastrocnemius medialis(G.M.). At Rectus femoris, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus medialis, and Biceps femoris showed no statistically significant decrease of median frequency or mean edge frequency as time passes. Also, between two treatments (wearing the roller shoes vs not wearing the roller shoes), no statistically significant difference. After 60 minutes, mean edge frequency showed statistically significant decrease at tibalis anterior and after 45 minutes, mean edge frequency showed statistically significant decrease compared to wearing roller shoes without the wheels at gastrocnemius lateralis. At gastrocnemius medialis after 30 minutes, median frequency showed statistically significant decrease, and showed statistically significant difference compared to the control group. Wearing the roller shoes with wheels for a long time resulted in statistically significant decrease of mean edge frequency and median frequency in lower extremity, especially in shank muscles. Increase of wearing time of roller shoes and walking on a bumpy road wearing roller shoes with wheels result fatigue and thus, danger of injury.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.spc1
• /
• pp.377-387
• /
• 2005

The equations of motion of two-wheeled vehicles, e.g. bicycles or motorcycles, are developed by using Lagrange's equations for quasi-coordinates. The pure rolling constraints between the ground and the two wheels are considered in the dynamical equations of the system. For each wheel, two nonholonomic and two holonomic constraints are introduced in a set of differential-algebraic equations (DAE). The constraint Jacobian matrix is obtained by collecting all the constraint equations and converting them into the velocity form. Equilibrium, an algorithm for searching for equilibrium points of two-wheeled vehicles and the associated problems are discussed. Formulae for calculating the radii of curvatures of ground-wheel contact paths and the reference point are also given.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.288-293
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the key factors in designing a three-wheeled two-row soybean reaper (riding type) that is suitable for soybean production, and ensure worker safety by proposing optimal work conditions for the prototype of the designed machine in relation to the slope of the road. Methods: A three-wheeled two-row soybean reaper (riding type) was designed and its prototype was fabricated based on the local soybean-production approach. This approach was considered to be closely related to the prototype-designing of the cutter and the wheel driving system of the reaper. Load distribution on the wheels of the prototype, its minimum turning radius, static lateral overturning angle, tilt angle during driving, and The working and rear overturning (back flip) angle were measured. Based on the gathered information, investigations were conducted regarding optimal work conditions for the prototype. The investigations took into account driving stability and worker safety. Results: The minimum ground clearance of the prototype was 0.5 m. The blade height of the prototype was adjusted such that the cutter was operated in line with the height of the ridges. The load distribution on the prototype's wheels was found to be 1 (front wheel: F): 1.35 (rear-left wheel: RL): 1.43 (rear-right wheel: RR). With the ratio of load distribution between the RL and RR wheels being 1: 1.05, the left-to-right lateral loads were found to be well-balanced. The minimum turning radius of the prototype was 2.0 m. Such a small turning radius was considered to be beneficial for cutting work on small-scale fields. The sliding of the prototype started at $25^{\circ}$, and its lateral overturning started at $39.3^{\circ}$. Further, the critical slope angle for the worker to drive the prototype in the direction of the contour line on an incline was found to be $12.8^{\circ}$, and the safe angle of slope for the cutting was measured to be less than $6^{\circ}$. The critical angle of slope that allowed for work was found to be $10^{\circ}$, at which point the prototype would overturn backward when given impact forces of 1,060 N on its front wheel. Conclusions: It was determined that farmers using the prototype would be able to work safely in most soybean production areas, provided that they complied with safe working conditions during driving and cutting.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.38 no.7
• /
• pp.799-807
• /
• 2014

This paper describes the development of an indoor locomotion assistive robot, Ball-Chair, comprising a novel drive system. This robot facilitates locomotion assistive operation in narrow spaces, in which common wheelchairs cannot move easily. The Ball-Chair has two main features: its structural feature and driving mechanism. The exoskeleton frames of the Ball-Chair have been designed with octagonal shapes resembling a circle, for minimizing its volume and weight. Additionally, all its driving parts (including the ball) are mounted within of the robot to enhance its safety. The Ball-Chair features a reverse ball-mouse driving mechanism comprising two driving omni-wheels in the x- and y-axes. By controlling the speed of each omni-wheel, a holonomic driving system that can facilitate omnidirectional locomotion has been achieved using only two wheels. The effective movement of the Ball-Chair in any direction within narrow indoor spaces was experimentally verified. The paper outlines the development procedure in detail.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.31-46
• /
• 2009

An Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) for estimation of the attitude and rate of a spacecraft using only magnetometer vector measurement is developed. The attitude dynamics used in the estimation is the nonlinear Euler's rotational equation which is augmented with the quaternion kinematics to construct a process model. The filter is designed for small satellite in low Earth orbit, so the disturbance torques include gravity-gradient torque, magnetic disturbance torque, and aerodynamic drag torque. The magnetometer measurements are simulated based on time-varying position of the spacecraft. The filter has been tested not only in the standby mode but also in the detumbling mode. Two types of actuators have been modeled and applied in the simulation. The PD controller is used for the two types of actuators (reaction wheels and thrusters) to detumble the spacecraft. The estimation error converged to within 5 deg for attitude and 0.1 deg/s for rate respectively when the two types of actuators were used. A joint state parameter estimation has been tested and the effect of the process noise covariance on the parameter estimation has been indicated. Also, Monte-Carlo simulations have been performed to test the capability of the filter to converge with the initial conditions sampled from a uniform distribution. Finally, the UKF performance has been compared to that of the EKF and it demonstrates that UKF slightly outperforms EKF. The developed algorithm can be applied to any type of small satellites that are actuated by magnetic torquers, reaction wheels or thrusters with a capability of magnetometer vector measurements for attitude and rate estimation.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.454-461
• /
• 1999

A concrete floor trowel machine, developed in the U.S in 1990's, consists of only two rotary trowels, and doesn't need any other mechanism for motion such as wheels. When the machine flattens a concrete floor with its rotary trowels, the machine can move in any direction by utilizing the unbalanced friction forces occurring between the rotary wheels and the floor when the trowels are tilted in appropriate directions. In order to automate the trowels machine, this paper proposed the self-propulsive concrete finishing trowel robot which has twin trowels. For the control of the robot, this paper discussed the following. Firstly, the dynamics model of the driving frictional force applied on each trowel from the floor is derived. Secondly, the relationship between the driving force for the robot and the control variable of the robot is derived. Finally, the basic motion of the robot are realized by using the obtained relationship. This paper figures out how the concrete floor finishing robot with tow trowels moves and will contribute to realizing it.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.2252-2257
• /
• 2003

In this paper, we develop the so-called functional test model for magnetic bearing reaction wheels. The functional test model has three degree of freedom, which consists of one axial suspension from gravity and the other two axes gimbaling capability to small angle, and does not include the motor. For the control of the functional test model, we derive the optimal electromagnetic forces based on the least squares method, and use the proportional-integral-derivative controller. Then, we develop a hardware setup, which mainly consists of the digital signal processor and the 12-bit analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, and show the experimental results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.28 no.9
• /
• pp.1391-1398
• /
• 2004

Railway wheels and axles belong to the most critical components in railway vehicles. The service conditions of railway vehicles became more severe in recent years due to the increase of speed. Therefore, a more precise evaluation of wheelset life and safety has been requested. Wheel/rail contact fatigue and thermal cracks due to braking heat are two main mechanisms of the railway wheel failure. In this paper, an evaluation procedure for the contact fatigue life of railway wheel is proposed. One of the main sources of the contact zone failure is the residual stress. The residual stress on wheel is formed during the manufacturing process which includes a heat treatment, and then is changed by contact stress developed by wheel/rail contact and thermal stress induced by braking. Also, the cyclic stress history for fatigue analysis is determined by applying finite elements analysis for the moving contact load. The objective of this paper is to estimate fatigue life by considering residual stress due to heat treatment, braking and repeated contact load, respectively.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.19 no.7
• /
• pp.626-632
• /
• 2013

When a conductive rod is put within rotating axial magnet wheels arranged parallel, three-axial magnetic forces generate on the rod. In some region, the forces has a property of negative stiffness, thus they can be applied to noncontact conveyance of the rod without a control load. Apart from the passive driving, the magnet wheel should be controlled for the rod to be stayed at the still state or be moved in a specified velocity. But, because a control input is just the rotating speed of the magnet wheel, the number of input is less than that of variables to be controlled. It means that levitation force and thrust force increase at the same time for increasing wheel speed, resulting from a strong couple between two forces. Thus, in this paper, a novel method, in which the longitudinal motion of the rod is controlled indirectly by the normal motion of the rod with respect to the wheel center, is introduced to manipulate the rod without mechanical contact on space.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.141-147
• /
• 2015

In this study, a position control algorithm for an omni-directional mobile robot based on Mecanum wheels was introduced and experimentally evaluated. Multiple ultrasonic sensors were installed around the mobile robot to obtain position feedback. Using the distance of the robot from the wall, the position and orientation of the mobile robot were calculated. In accordance with the omni-directional velocity generation mechanism, the velocity kinematics between the Mecanum wheel and the mobile platform were determined. Based on this formulation, a simple and intuitive position control algorithm was suggested. To evaluate the control algorithm, a test bed composed of artificial walls was designed and implemented. While conventional control algorithms based on normal wheels require additional path planning for two-dimensional planar motion, the omni-directional mobile robot using distance sensors was able to directly follow target positions with the simple proposed position feedback algorithm.