• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2007

Recently, overweight that is the major cause of diseases is troubled about the serious social problems. To solve this problem, the need of measurement system for the overweight management has been increased. This paper is the study on measurement system. This system analyzes EMG (electromyograph) of the abdomen. Then, checks one's state of health and offers the right medical services wherever and whenever. To analyze EMG of the abdomen, this paper proposes the algorithms that are energy detection, feature detection, classification and recognition, etc. Measurement system based on the analysis algorithms of EMG appraises overweight and physical strength of the abdomen. It also provides the right estimation for one's state of health.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.535-542
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• 2016

This study was to explore the meanings and follow-up tasks for enactment of Act on Supply and Utilization Promotion of Assistive Technology Devices for People with Disabilities and Seniors(Assistive Technology Act) in Korea. I conducted analysis about contents and establishment process of the Act. The study found meaningful effects ; it provided the basis for supporting assistive technology devices based on the social model, it led to an Implementation of the national obligations such as UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it provided terms related to assistive technology. It is suggested to conduct follow-up studies and to put the efforts to strengthen additional laws for backing up the effective policy for extended support of assistive technology devices and for security of budget, for establishing regional service centers, for phasing of professional qualification, for controlling quality, for establishing an information system, and for promoting industries.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.109-116
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• 2016

This study presents a unique way to improve consumer-oriented service for assistive orthosis products. Satisfaction and important factors were analyzed based on responses from disabled people who have used the orthoses. We surveyed 185 disabled people with QUEST (Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with assistive Technology), and we conducted in-depth interviews with 25 individuals. The average satisfaction score was 3.68 (orthoses satisfaction: 3.78; service satisfaction: 3.52). For each item, the highest score was effectiveness, and the lowest one was cost. As important factors for each item, the participants selected cost, comfort, repair, and service. The fee system for orthoses needs rational revision, and a delivery system should be constructed for follow-up services such as repair.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.7-12
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• 2013

In this paper, we propose a brushless DC motor drive system for active knee prosthesis and low-cost estimation method for phase current from DC-link current. To control motor torque directly, current sensing is very important and current sensing point should be synchronized with voltage switching command to minimize the effect of switching noise in current measurement, For maintaining small form factor, simplifying control schemes and achieving low-cost system, control schemes using DC-link current are used. Moreover, we incorporated phase current estimation method using analog MUX for minimizing current estimation error between DC-link current and phase current. The validity of the proposed system is verified through experimental works.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.319-329
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• 2015

The purpose of this paper is to analyze lower extremities pattern of daily activities and walking on the treadmill with passive body support system. The experiments will be used for basic research of developing active harness system. The experimental procedure has been validated on 5 healthy male subjects and we measured foot pressure and 8 section of lower limb muscles activities. The EMG results of ADL indicate that there have specific muscle activity patterns followed by each activities. The vastus lateralis muscle activities were highly seems on the activities that requires flection and extension of knee joint. The foot pressure value of stair descent activity was the highest due to the fact that it is come down to the direction of gravity. The results with the passive body weight support percentages show that the EMG and foot pressure values were declined according to increasement of the body weight support percentages. Therefore the body weight support system could apply gait rehabilitation system for various patients by changing the percentages of the body weight support.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2012

Most Augmentative and Alternative Communication(AAC) use exclusive equipment or studied desktop, tablet PC based windows. Besides, the preceding study offers proper noun dictionary so, henceforward study has problem to innumerable proper noun processing. This paper suggests a method of proper noun processing using a mobile smart equipment. And via the button with virtual keyboard input method and the errors that can occur is also proposing a complementary way. AAC system to check availability for application on Android has been implemented. Experimental results, depending on user location and selection of proper nouns in the around could produce a sentence is derived.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.647-650
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• 2014

Assessment and rehabilitation of patients with unilateral visual neglect has been one of the fields that require assistive technology. Paper-and-pencil tests, including the LBT (Line Bisection Test), have been one of the most commonly used visual neglect assessment methods used in a clinical setting. The key motivation of this study was to establish a computer-based real-time assessment system for the hemi-neglect patients without altering the conventional paper-and-pencil based user tools. A digital penbased assessment and rehabilitation system, the ePen System, could eliminate the manual assessment time while maintaining measurement accuracy. As a result, the proposed system may assist rehabilitation specialists to assess and diagnose patients with unilateral visual neglect. This system can be applied to a range assessment and rehabilitation modalities based on a pen and paper. It can also be applied to various patients such as those with Parkinson's disease, stroke sufferers, or those who have experienced different forms of brain lesions.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.553-559
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• 2015

The purpose of this research is to develop a gait assistive device to enhance the gait stability and training efficiency of stroke patients. The configuration of this device is mainly composed of a motored wheel and a single cane whose lower end is attached to a motored wheel frame. A patient can feel haptic information from continuous ground contact from the wheel while walking through the grip handle. In addition, the wheeled cane can avoid using excessive use of the patient's upper limb for weight support and motivate the patient to use a paralyzed lower limb more actively. Moreover, the proposed device can provide intuitive and safe user interaction by integrating a force sensor and a tilt sensor equipped to the cane frame, and a switch sensor at the cane's handle. The admittance control has been implemented for the patient to change the walking speed intuitively by using the interaction forces at the handle. A hemi-paretic stroke patient participated in the walking assistive experiments as a pilot study to verify the effectiveness of the proposed haptic cane system. The results showed that the patient could improve walking speed and muscle activations during walking with a constant speed mode of the haptic cane. Moreover, the patient could maintain the preferred walking speeds and gait stability regardless of the magnitude of resistance forces with the admittance control mode of the haptic cane. The proposed robotic gait assistive device with a simple and intuitive mechanism can provide efficient gait training modes to stroke patients with high possibilities of widespread utilizations.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.349-354
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• 2017

In this study, we proposed a design guideline of height-adjustable wash basin which is an assistive product for personal hygiene for persons with disability. We performed biomechanical assessments using both of conventional and prototype height adjustable wash basin. Total five elderly subjects (all male, age $68.6{\pm}4.3yrs.$, height $169.8{\pm}5.7cm$, weight $70{\pm}7.7kg$) participated for the assessment test. Each joint angles were measured by using a 3D motion capture system when subjects use wash basins, and the lumbar moment of each subjects was estimated based on a human body model. From the assessment results, a design guideline which has the range of the height from 652[mm] to 1162[mm] was proposed. Then additional assessment tests with five healthy subjects ($25.8{\pm}1.8yrs.$, $175.5{\pm}5.8cm$, $74{\pm}15.7kg$) were performed in order to verify effectiveness of the design guideline. The results showed a height-adjustable wash basin applied the proposed design guideline was effective to reduce the lumbar moment.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.309-314
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• 2016

Objective: There are no guidelines for choosing appropriate gait assistive devices. The aim of this study was to evaluate gait assistive devices in patients with Parkinson's disease. Method: We evaluated 15 individuals with Parkinson's disease who did or did not use one of two different devices including canes and two-wheeled walkers. Data were collected using the GAITRite system. Results: Participants in the group using canes and two-wheeled walkers had significantly increased double support time and decreased gait velocity, normalized gait velocity, and stride length compared with those who did not. Participants who used a two-wheeled walker had significantly decreased gait velocity, normalized gait velocity, and stride length compared with those who used a cane. Furthermore, participants who used a two-wheeled walker had significantly decreased coefficients of variation for step time, stride length, and swing time compared with those who used a cane. Conclusion: Our results indicated that the two-wheeled walker offered the most consistent advantages for decreasing the risk of falling.