• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1217-1224
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• 2013

In this paper, a hand exoskeleton actuated by air muscles(soft hand exoskeleton) is introduced. Some soft hand exoskeletons have already been developed to overcome the defects of hand exoskeletons based on linkage and pneumatic piston system-they are usually bulky and do not have enough degree of freedom(DOF). However, soft hand exoskeletons still have defects. Their motions are not precise as linkage based hand exoskeletons, because their actuator, such as air muscle is made of soft materials. So we developed a new linkage which is not bulky and has redundant DOF. It is combined with air muscle in a specific way so that it acts as a guide when air muscle is actuated. Some experiments were conducted to evaluate the validity and usability of our hand exoskeleton.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.964-970
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• 2014

In this study we have developed an anthropomorphic robot hand and arm by using tendon-tubes which can be used for people's everyday life as a robot's dynamic power transmission device. Most previous robot hands or arms had critical problem on dynamic optimization due to heavy weight of power transmission parts which placed on robot's finger area or arm area. In order to resolve this problem we designed light-weighted robot hand and arm by using tendon-tubes which were consisted of many articulations and links just like human's hand and arm. The most prominent property of this robot hand and arm is reduction of the weight of robot's power transmission part. Reduction of weight of robot's power transmission parts will allow us to develop energy saving and past moving robot hands and arms which can be used for artificial arms. As a first step for real development in this study we showed structural design and demonstration of simulation of possibility of a robot hand and arm by tendon-tube. In the future research we are planning to verify practicality of the robot hand and arm by applying sensing and controlling method to a specimen.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.179-185
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• 2015

The versatility of a human hand is what the researchers eager to mimic. As one of the attempt, the redundant degree of freedom in the human hand is considered. However, in the force domain the redundant joint causes a control issue. To solve this problem, the force control method for a redundant robotic hand which is similar to the human is proposed. First, the redundancy of the human hand is analyzed. Then, to resolve the redundancy in force domain, the artificial minimum energy point is specified and the restoring force is used to control the configuration of the finger other than the force in a null space. Finally, the method is verified experimentally with a commercial robot hand, called Allegro Hand with a force/torque sensor.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.237-243
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• 2020

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of a Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3)-based fully automated bone age assessment system on hand-wrist radiographs of Korean children and adolescents. Materials and Methods: Hand-wrist radiographs of 80 subjects (40 boys and 40 girls, 7-15 years of age) were collected. The clinical efficacy was evaluated by comparing the bone ages that were determined using the system with those from the reference standard produced by 2 oral and maxillofacial radiologists. Comparisons were conducted using the paired t-test and simple regression analysis. Results: The bone ages estimated with this bone age assessment system were not significantly different from those obtained with the reference standard (P>0.05) and satisfied the equivalence criterion of 0.6 years within the 95% confidence interval (-0.07 to 0.22), demonstrating excellent performance of the system. Similarly, in the comparisons of gender subgroups, no significant difference in bone age between the values produced by the system and the reference standard was observed (P>0.05 for both boys and girls). The determination coefficients obtained via regression analysis were 0.962, 0.945, and 0.952 for boys, girls, and overall, respectively (P=0.000); hence, the radiologist-determined bone ages and the system-determined bone ages were strongly correlated. Conclusion: This TW3-based system can be effectively used for bone age assessment based on hand-wrist radiographs of Korean children and adolescents.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.309-315
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• 2013

This study examines the difference of surface properties according to napping characteristic of artificial suedes, measuring surface structure observation, the contact/non-contact method roughness, warm-cool feeling of touch, and subjective hand evaluation. Surface and cross-section observations showed a discernible difference in fineness, curl, length, mount of napping, and covering power of base fabric. The surface properties of artificial suede evaluated by KES-FB4 showed that the shorter napping length the more smooth surface and the roughness increased reciprocally with friction resistance and surface contour when the nap length reaches a high level. The surface roughness measuring system applied a laser displacement sensor by a non-contact method to assess napping characteristic and the base fabric and napping height. Surface roughness decreased when napping was uniformly covered with base fabric; however, the surface roughness increased specifically with the uneven covering power of the base fabric. For qmax of the suedes, those that had short and smaller amounts of napping increased; however, the napping of length and amount at some stage generated a low qmax value. The warm sensation in all suedes were strongly perceived, but the cool sensation of the perception was lower in the subjective evaluation. Smoothness and softness were perceived when the suede has a long and large amount napping; however, smoothness and hardness were perceived when the suede was short and with the uneven covering power.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.205-216
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• 2016

The localization of the robot is one of the most important factors of navigating mobile robots. The use of featured information of landmarks is one approach to estimate the location of the robot. This approach can be classified into two categories: the natural-landmark-based and artificial-landmark-based approach. Natural landmarks are suitable for any environment, but they may not be sufficient for localization in the less featured or dynamic environment. On the other hand, artificial landmarks may generate shaded areas due to space constraints. In order to improve these disadvantages, this paper presents a novel development of the localization system by using artificial and natural-landmarks-based approach on a topological map. The proposed localization system can recognize far or near landmarks without any distortion by using landmark tracking system based on top-view image transform. The camera is rotated by distance of landmark. The experiment shows a result of performing position recognition without shading section by applying the proposed system with a small number of artificial landmarks in the mobile robot.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.97-103
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• 2014

This study aimed at developing integrated logic for controlling heating device and openings of the double skin facade buildings. Two major logics were developed-rule-based control logic and artificial neural network based control logic. The rule based logic represented the widely applied conventional method while the artificial neural network based logic meant the optimal method. Applying the optimal method, the predictive and adaptive controls were feasible for supplying the advanced thermal indoor environment. Comparative performance tests were conducted using the numerical computer simulation tools such as MATLAB (Matrix Laboratory) and TRNSYS (Transient Systems Simulation). Analysis on the test results in the test module revealed that the artificial neural network-based control logics provided more comfortable and stable temperature conditions based on the optimal control of the heating device and opening conditions of the double skin facades. However, the amount of heat supply to the indoor space by the optimal method was increased for the better thermal conditioning. The number of on/off moments of the heating device, on the other hand, was significantly reduced. Therefore, the optimal logic is expected to beneficial to create more comfortable thermal environment and to potentially prevent system degradation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.14-20
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• 2006

In recent year, as the robot technology is developed, the researches on the artificial muscle actuator that enables robot to move dexterously like biological organ become active. Actuators are key technologies underpinning robotics. Breakthroughs in actuator technology, particular in terms of power-to-weight ratio, or energy-density, will have significant impacts upon the design and control of robotic system. In this paper, a new approach to design and control of shape memory alloy(SMA) actuator is presented to drive the robot hand. SMA wire is divided into many segments and their thermal states of the SMA are controlled individually in a binary manner. This control manner will reduce the hysteresis that the SMA material has and it becomes the fundamental technology to develop the anthropomorphic robot hand. In this paper, the mechanism In the digital step motor of the shape memory alloy that is driven by the segmented binary control, which is a new control technique, is studied. This SMA digital step actuator applies for the robot hand and the driving mechanism of the robot hand is investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2010.06c
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• pp.516-520
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• 2010

컴퓨터와 인간과의 상호작용에서 다양한 형태의 인터페이스에 대한 요구가 날로 커지고 있다. 그 가운데 실생활에서도 사물을 지칭하거나 의사소통의 수단으로 사용되는 손과 관련한 인터페이스에 대한 연구가 주목 받고 있다. 기존의 대부분의 연구들은 손을 입력 받으면 영상을 기반으로 손의 중심점을 찾아 그것의 위치를 인식하였는데 이는 물체에 의해 손이 가려진 것과 같이 잘못된 영상을 입력 받았을 때 원하는 결과를 얻지 못하는 상황을 야기할 수 있다. 본 논문은 이러한 점을 보완하기 위하여 손의 중심점을 찾을 때 방해 받는 물체에 덜 민감하게 반응하도록 칼만 필터를 적용하여 문제점을 개선할 수 있도록 하였다. 또한 결과의 정확도를 높일 수 있도록 손가락 끝점을 추출하여 칼만 필터의 매개변수에 반영시켜주었다. 그 결과 예기치 못한 상황이 발생했을 때에도 이것에 덜 민감하게 반응하면서 손의 위치를 비교적 정확하게 측정할 수 있었으며 시스템의 과정이 간단하여 실시간으로 응용하기에 적합한 것을 알 수 있었다.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.792-800
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• 2021

Bone age assessments are a complicated and lengthy process, which are prone to inter- and intra-observer variabilities. Despite the great demand for fully automated systems, developing an accurate and robust bone age assessment solution has remained challenging. The rapidly evolving deep learning technology has shown promising results in automated bone age assessment. In this review article, we will provide information regarding the history of automated bone age assessments, discuss the current status, and present a literature review, as well as the future directions of artificial intelligence-based bone age assessments.