• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2009

This work deals with an intuitive method for a planar biped to walk, which is named Relative Trajectory Control (RTC) method. A key feature of the proposed RTC method is that feet of the robot are controlled to track a given trajectory, which is specially designed relative to the base body of the robot. The trajectory of feet is presumed from analysis of the walking motion of a human being. A simple method to maintain a stable posture while the robot is walking is also introduced in RTC method. In this work, the biped is modeled as a free-floating robot, of which dynamic model is obtained in the Cartesian space. Using the obtained dynamic model, the robot is controlled by a model-based feedback control scheme. The author shows a preliminary experimental result to verify that the biped robot with RTC method can walk on the even or uneven surfaces.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.109-118
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of line dance programme on the balance ability during walking to reveal the exercise intervention for fall prevention. A 12-week line dance programme was applied to 18 elderly females who aged more than 65 years in the community. Balance ability during walking was evaluated by the range of center of pressure(cop), the velocity of cop, and free torque that calculated on the basis of ground reaction force data. The range and velocity of cop in the anterio-posterior were significantly reduced after performing(p<.01, p<.05, respectively), but change in those of cop in the medio-lateral and free torque were not found. It was demonstrates that 12-week line dance programme allows more effective in anterio-posterior stability of walking. It was suggested that the effect of fall prevention exercise should be studied more associate with fall frequency as future study.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.41-48
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• 2020

During fire outbreaks, smoke accumulates from the ceiling and reduces the available walking height of people passing through. In this study, a walking experiment was conducted to investigate the relationship between the walking speed of people and available walking height. Twenty-three participants were enrolled. Based on the results, the lower the available walking height, the lower the average walking speed of the participants. However, a significant difference was noted only in the walking speed when the available walking height was 1.2 m compared to the free walking speed. In addition, there was no significant difference among participants in terms of their BMI index grade. However, in the case of participants with normal BMI, the walking speed at a 1.2 m available walking height was significantly lower than when walking freely. Further, in the case of overweight participants, the walking speed at 1.8 m and 1.7 m available walking height was significantly increased compared to that when walking freely.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.175-180
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a pre-exercise meal on the plasma human growth hormone (hGH) response and fat oxidation during walking. Subjects (n=8) were randomly provided with either 1 g/kg body weight of glucose in 200 mL water (CHO) or 200 mL water alone (CON) 30 min prior to exercise and subsequently walked on a treadmill at 50% of VO2max for 60 min. Plasma hGH concentrations were significantly higher in subjects who received CHO compared to those who received CON at 15 and 30 min. The fat oxidation rate in the CHO was significantly lower than the CON while walking for 5~15, 25~35 and 45~55 min. Plasma FFA levels were also significantly lower in the CHO compared to the CON at 30, 45 and 60 min. Plasma glucose levels in the CHO were significantly lower while plasma insulin levels were significantly higher than in the CON at 15 and 30 min. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that the elevation of plasma hGH levels due to the intake of a pre-exercise meal may not be strongly related to fat oxidation and plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels during low-intensity exercise.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.329-338
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• 1994

This paper presents a novel method of path planning for a quadruped walking robot on irregular terrain. In the previous study on the path planning problem of mobile robots, it has been usually focused on the collision-free path planning for wheeled robots. The path planning problem of legged roboth, however, has unique aspects from the point of viw that the legged robot can cross over the obstacles and the gait constraint should be considered in the process of planning a path. To resolve this unique problem systematically, a new concept of the artificial intensity field of light is numerically constructed over the configuration space of the robot including the transformed obstacles and a feasible path is sought in the field. Also, the efficiency of the proposed method is shown by various simulation results.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2018

Humanoid robots have fascinated many researchers since they appeared decades ago. For the requirement of both accurate tracking control and the safety of physical human-robot interaction, torque control is basically desirable for humanoid robots. Humanoid robots are highly nonlinear, coupled, complex systems, accordingly the calculation of robot model is difficult and even impossible if precise model of the humanoid robots are unknown. Therefore, it is difficult to control using traditional model-based techniques. To realize model-free torque control, time-delay control (TDC) for humanoid robot was proposed with time-delay estimation technique. Using optimal walking trajectory obtained by particle swarm optimization, TDC with proposed scheme is implemented on whole body of a humanoid, not on biped legs even though it is performed by a virtual humanoid robot. The simulation results show the validity of the proposed TDC for humanoid robots.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.244-249
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• 2017

Wearable sensor-based gait analysis has been widely conducted to analyze various aspects of human ambulation abilities under the free-living condition. However, there have been few research efforts on using wearable sensors to analyze human walking on an unstable surface such as on a ship during a sea voyage. Since the motion of a ship on the unstable sea surface imposes significant differences in walking strategies, investigation is suggested to find better performing wearable sensor-based gait analysis algorithms on this unstable environment. This study aimed to compare two representative gait event algorithms including time domain and frequency domain analyses for detecting heel strike on an unstable platform. As results, although two methods did not miss any heel strike, the frequency domain analysis method perform better when comparing heel strike timing. The finding suggests that the frequency analysis is recommended to efficiently detect gait event in the unstable walking environment.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.77-88
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to show the effectiveness of Chuna Manual Therapy applied to a osteoporosis patient with gait disturbance due to lower limb fracture surgery. Method : We focused on Chuna therapy accompanied with acupuncture, herbal medicine, moxibustion, cupping treatment and rehabilitation exercise. This case was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Pain Free Walking Distance (PFWD), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Modified Barthel Index (MBI). Result : This patient showed improvement on the VAS from 6 to 3, PFWD from 0 m to 2000 m using a walker and 50 m by self-walking, BBS from 2 to 28, and MBI from 56 to 89. Moreover the walking state improved from gait disturbance to self-walking. Conclusion : This study suggests that Chuna therapy could be used to improve gait disturbance in patients with osteoporosis and lower limb fracture surgery.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.393-400
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• 2015

This paper describes the development of a chest-wearable robot that can efficiently perform self walking rehabilitation without a helper. The features of the developed robot are divided into three parts. First, as a mechanical characteristic, the conventional elbow crutch is attached at the forearm. However, the proposed robot is attached to the patient's chest, enabling them to feel free to use their hands and eliminate the burden of the arms. Second, as a characteristic of the driving algorithm, pressure sensors attached to the chest automatically perceive the patient's walking intention and move the robot-leg thereafter. Also, for safety, it stops operating when an obstacle is found in front of the patient by using ultrasonic sensors and generates a beeping sound. Finally, by using the scotch yoke mechanism, supporting legs are moved up and down using a rotary servo motor without excessive torque that is generated by large ground reaction forces. We showed that the developed robot can effectively perform self walking rehabilitation through walking experiments, and its performance was verified using Electromyograph (EMG) 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.