• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1991.10a
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• pp.523-527
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• 1991

A rubber pneumatic controlled actuator is a new actuator. It is very light With a high power-to-weight ratio. In this thesis, a control method for a two link robot arm using the rubber actuator is developed. The structure of the servo control is made up of two sections. The position control is performed by PID feedback control. The air pressure is controlled by Servo Valve Unit driven by PWM and the control input is compensated by software operation. The numerical simulation of this control method to two link robot arm is presented to verify the performance of the closed loop system. The actual control of the real two link robot arm with rubber actuator is taken and its results are discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.6 s.249
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• pp.662-669
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• 2006

The pneumatic muscle actuator consists of an air bellows tube with two end-flanges. The air bellows tube is made from rubber layers and flexible sheathing formed from nylon 6 fibers. This structure can be stretched or compressed to convert the radial expansive forces into contractile forces. We performed the finite element analysis and the performance test of pneumatic muscle actuator. Also, the pneumatic muscle actuator was manufactured and tested by home-made tester. The results of FEA was similar with performance test below the maximum error of 42 %.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.825-831
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• 2007

An elbow orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator has been developed to assist and enhance upper limb movements and has been examined for the effectiveness. The effectiveness of the elbow orthosis was examined by comparing muscular activities during alternate dumbbell curl exercises with and without the orthosis. The subjects participated in the experiment were younger adults in their twenties. The subjects were instructed to perform dumbbell curl motion in a sitting position with and without orthosis in turn and a dynamometer was used to measure elbow joint torque outputs in an isovelocity mode. The measurements were done with four various dumbbell loads: 0 kg, 1 kg, 3 kg, and 5 kg. The orthosis was pneumatically actuated and controlled in a passive mode. The most comfortable air pressure to the pneumatic actuator was determined to be 0.294MPa. Electromyography(EMG) was also measured during curl exercises. The muscles of interest were biceps brachii(BB), triceps brachii(TB), brachioradialis(Bo), and flexor carpi ulnaris(FCU) in the upper limbs. The experimental results showed that the muscular activities themselves significantly reduced with elbow orthosis on in performing similar activities without orthosis. As a result of this experiment, the effectiveness of the developed upper limb orthosis was confirmed and the level of assistance was quantified.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.725-728
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• 2008

An elbow orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator has been developed to assist and enhance upper limbs movements and has been examined for the effectiveness. The effectiveness of the elbow orthosis was examined by comparing muscular activities during alternate dumbbell curl motion wearing and not wearing the orthosis. The subjects participated in the experiment were younger adults in their twenties. The subjects were instructed to perform dumbbell curl motion in a sitting position wearing and not wearing orthosis in turn and a dynamometer was used to measure elbow joint torque outputs in an isokinetic mode. Orthosis was controlled using contractile muscle force that is measured from force sensor through cDAQ-9172 board. The air pressure of the pneumatic actuator was 0.3MPa the most suitable air pressure. For the analysis of muscular activities, Electromyography of the subjects was measured during alternate dumbbell curl motion. The experiment results showed that the muscular activities wearing the elbow orthosis were reduced. With this, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed elbow orthosis.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.76-81
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• 2004

Problems with the control, oscillatory motion and compliance of pneumatic systems have prevented their widespread use in advanced robotics. However, their compactness, power/weight ratio, ease of maintenance and inherent safety are factors that could be potentially exploited in sophisticated dexterous manipulator designs. These advantages have led to the development of novel actuators such as the McKibben Muscle, Rubber Actuator and Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Manipulators. However, some limitations still exist, such as a deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the changes in the external inertia load in the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. To overcome this problem, a switching algorithm of the control parameter using a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) is newly proposed. This estimates the external inertia load of the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is demonstrated through experiments with different external inertia loads.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1388-1400
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• 2004

Problems with the control, oscillatory motion and compliance of pneumatic systems have prevented their widespread use in advanced robotics. However, their compactness, power/weight ratio, ease of maintenance and inherent safety are factors that could be potentially exploited in sophisticated dexterous manipulator designs. These advantages have led to the development of novel actuators such as the McKibben Muscle, Rubber Actuator and Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Manipulators. However, some limitations still exist, such as a deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the changes in the external inertia load in the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. To overcome this problem, a switching algorithm of the control parameter using a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) is newly proposed. This estimates the external inertia load of the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is demonstrated through experiments with different external inertia loads.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.82-90
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• 2009

Pneumatic cylinder is one of the low cost actuation sources which have been applied in industrial and prosthetic application since it has a high power/weight ratio, a high-tension force and a long durability However, the control problems of pneumatic systems, oscillatory motion and compliance, have prevented their widespread use in advanced robotics. To overcome these shortcomings, a number of newer pneumatic actuators have been developed such as McKibben Muscle, Rubber Actuator and Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (PAM) Manipulators. In this paper, one solution for position control of a robot arm, which is driven by two pneumatic artificial muscles, is presented. However, some limitations still exist, such as a deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the changes in the external load of the robot arm. To overcome this problem, a switching algorithm of the control parameter using a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) is proposed in this paper. This estimates the external load of the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is demonstrated through experiments with different external working loads.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1983-1989
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• 2005

Industrial robots are powerful, extremely accurate multi-jointed systems, but they are heavy and highly rigid because of their mechanical structure and motorization. Therefore, sharing the robot working space with its environment is problematic. A novel pneumatic artificial muscle actuator (PAM actuator) has been regarded during the recent decades as an interesting alternative to hydraulic and electric actuators. Its main advantages are high strength and high power/weight ratio, low cost, compactness, ease of maintenance, cleanliness, readily available and cheap power source, inherent safety and mobility assistance to humans performing tasks. The PAM is undoubtedly the most promising artificial muscle for the actuation of new types of industrial robots such as Rubber Actuator and PAM manipulators. However, some limitations still exist, such as the air compressibility and the lack of damping ability of the actuator bring the dynamic delay of the pressure response and cause the oscillatory motion. In addition, the nonlinearities in the PAM manipulator still limit the controllability. Therefore, it is not easy to realize motion with high accuracy and high speed and with respect to various external inertia loads in order to realize a human-friendly therapy robot To overcome these problems a novel controller, which harmonizes a phase plane switching control method with conventional PID controller and the adaptabilities of neural network, is newly proposed. In order to realize satisfactory control performance a variable damper - Magneto-Rheological Brake (MRB) is equipped to the joint of the manipulator. Superb mixture of conventional PID controller and a phase plane switching control using neural network brings us a novel controller. This proposed controller is appropriate for a kind of plants with nonlinearity uncertainties and disturbances. The experiments were carried out in practical PAM manipulator and the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm was demonstrated through experiments, which had proved that the stability of the manipulator can be improved greatly in a high gain control by using MRB with phase plane switching control using neural network and without regard for the changes of external inertia loads.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2010

Ankle-foot orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator, which is intended for the assistance and the enhancement of ankle muscular activities was developed. In this study, the effectiveness of the system was investigated during plantarflexion motion of ankle joint. To find a effectiveness of the system, the subjects performed maximal voluntary isokinetic plantarflexion contraction on a Biodex-dynamometer. Plantarfexion torque of the ankle joint is assisted by subject's soleus muscle that is generated when ankle joint do plantarflexion motion. We used the muscular stiffness signal of a soleus muscle for feedback control of ankle-foot orthosis as physiological signal. For measurement of this signal, we made the muscular stiffness force sensor. We compared a muscular stiffness force of a soleus muscle between with feedback control and without it and a maximal plantarflexion torque between not wearing a ankle-foot orthosis, without feedback control wearing it and with feedback control wearing it in each ten elderly adults. The experimental result showed that a muscular stiffness force of a soleus muscle with feedback control was reduced and plantarflexion torque of an ankle joint only wearing ankle-foot orthosis was reduced but a plantarflexion torque with feedback control was increased. The amount of a increasing with feedback control is more higher than the amount of a decreasing only wearing it. Therefore, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed ankle-foot orthosis with feedback control.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.217-226
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• 2010

The lower limb orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator, which is intended for the assistance and the enhancement of muscular activities of lower limbs was developed in this study. Compared to other knee extension assistive devices being developed by other researchers, our device is designed especially for the elderly people and intended only for slight assistance so that the subjects can keep their muscular strength. For the effectiveness of system, muscular activities of major muscles in lower limbs during sit-to-stand (STS) and squat motion were measured and analyzed. Subjects were performed the STS and squat motion with and without lower limb orthosis. We made comparison muscular activities between with and without lower limb orthosis. Lower limb orthosis was controlled using muscular stiffness force feedback that is controlled by muscular activities of the measured muscle from force sensor. For analysis of muscular activities, electromyography of the subjects was measured during STS and squat motion, and these were measured using MP 150(BIOPAC Systems, Inc.). Muscles of interest were rectus femoris(RF), vastus lateralis(VL), vastus medialis(VM) and vastus intermedius(VI) muscles in lower limbs of the right side. A biodex dynamometer was used to measure the maximal concentric isokinetic strength of the knee extensors of wearing and not wearing orthosis on right side. The test were performed using the concentric isokinetic mode of test with the velocity set at 60°/s for muscles around the knee joints. The experimental result showed that muscular activities in lower limbs wearing orthosis using muscular stiffness force of a vastus medialis muscle was reduced and knee extension torque of an knee joint wearing lower limb orthosis was increased. With this, we confirmed the effectiveness of the developed lower limb orthosis.