• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.417-424
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to develop a vehicle, leading or following a worker at a certain distance to assist laborious transporting works in greenhouses. A prototype vehicle was tested in the practical field conditions using a developed control algorithm. Results of this study were summarized as following: 1. The sensing device consisted of infrared sensors was attached to the front of the vehicle and turning following algorithm was developed to make the vehicle turned as it follows a worker simultaneously. 2. The measured average power consumptions were 110W and 89W, equivalent to 5.2-6.4 hrs battery durations, at low speed with and without the maximum payload, respectively. 3. Results of the travel tests showed that the deviations from the center of row spacing were $\pm$100 mm along the ridge and $\pm$85 mm along the hydroponic bed in the greenhouse. Therefore, the worker-following transport vehicle was feasible to travel along the row without collision in the greenhouse.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.409-416
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to develop a vehicle, leading or following a worker at a certain distance to assist laborious transporting works in greenhouses. A prototype vehicle, which consisted of the rear driving, the front steering and the console units, was designed and tested in the ideal indoor conditions. Results of this study were summarized as following: 1. The driving unit was designed to travel at the speed ranges of 0.3∼0.8 m/sec depending on the operating modes with a maximum payload of 100 kg. 2. The console unit consisted of a main-board including a 80C196KC microprocessor and peripheral devices, a power-board and safety interlock. Worker-leading, and following modes were available in automatic and manual modes. 3. Steering was achieved by turning the steering motor against the sensed direction. Proper steering angles for correcting travel direction were determined as 5 and 9 degrees when sensing cultivation beds and plants, respectively.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
• /
• v.19 no.9
• /
• pp.1647-1658
• /
• 2016

RGB+D database has been widely used in object recognition, object tracking, robot control, to name a few. While rapid advance of active depth sensing technologies allows for the widespread of indoor RGB+D databases, there are only few outdoor RGB+D databases largely due to an inherent limitation of active depth cameras. In this paper, we propose a novel method used to build outdoor RGB+D databases. Instead of using active depth cameras such as Kinect or LIDAR, we acquire a pair of stereo image using high-resolution stereo camera and then obtain a depth map by applying stereo matching algorithm. To deal with estimation errors that inevitably exist in the depth map obtained from stereo matching methods, we develop an approach that estimates confidence of depth maps based on unsupervised learning. Unlike existing confidence estimation approaches, we explicitly consider a spatial correlation that may exist in the confidence map. Specifically, we focus on refining confidence feature with the assumption that the confidence feature and resultant confidence map are smoothly-varying in spatial domain and are highly correlated to each other. Experimental result shows that the proposed method outperforms existing confidence measure based approaches in various benchmark dataset.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.401-415
• /
• 2021

Soft robots are promising devices for applications in drug delivery, sensing, and manufacturing. Traditional hard robotics are manufactured with rigid materials and their degrees of motion are constrained by the orientation of the joints. In contrast to rigid counterpart, soft robotics, employing soft and stretchable materials that easily deforms in shape, can realize complex motions (i.e., locomotion, swimming, and grappling) with a simple structure, and easily adapt to dynamic environment. Among them, the magnetic actuators exhibit unique characteristics such as rapid and accurate motion control, biocompatibility, and facile remote controllability, which make them promising candidates for the next-generation soft robots. Especially, the magnetic actuators instantly response to the stimuli, and show no-hysteresis during the recovery process, essential for continuous motion control. Here, we present the state-of-the-art fabrication process of magnetically controllable nano-/micro-composites, magnetically aligning process of the composites, and 1-dimensional/multi-dimensional multimodal motion control for the nextgeneration soft actuators.

• Journal of Powder Materials
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.509-517
• /
• 2021

Smart materials capable of changing their characteristics in response to stimuli such as light, heat, pH, and electric and magnetic fields are promising for application to flexible electronics, soft robotics, and biomedicine. Compared with conventional rigid materials, these materials are typically composed of soft materials that improve the biocompatibility and allow for large and dynamic deformations in response to external environmental stimuli. Among them, smart magnetic materials are attracting immense attention owing to their fast response, remote actuation, and wide penetration range under various conditions. In this review, we report the material design and fabrication of smart magnetic materials. Furthermore, we focus on recent advances in their typical applications, namely, soft magnetic actuators, sensors for self-assembly, object manipulation, shape transformation, multimodal robot actuation, and tactile sensing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.25-37
• /
• 2024

The objective of this study was to create intelligent rail robots that are optimized for facility management and implement digital twin systems for smart road tunnel management. An autonomous surveillance system is formed by combining the sensing platform consisting of railing robots, fixed cameras and environmental detection sensors with the digital twin data platform technology for tunnel monitoring and early fire suppression. In order to develop mobile rail robots for fire extinguishing, we also designed and manufactured robots for extinguishing & monitoring and fire extinguishing devices, and then we examined the optimization of all parts. Our next step was to build a digital twin for road tunnel management by developing continuous image display system and implementing 3D modeling. After constructing prototypes, we attempted simulations by configuring abnormal symptom scenarios, such as vehicles fires. This study's proposal proposes high-accuracy risk prediction services that will enable intelligent management of risks in the tunnel with early response at each stage, using the data collected from the intelligent rail robots and digital twin systems.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2017

Recently, as the number of facilities using chemicals is increasing, the amount of handling is rapidly increasing. However, chemical spills are occurring steadily, and if large quantities of chemicals are leaked in time, they are likely to cause major damage. These industrial complexes use information obtained from a number of sensors to detect and monitor leaking areas, and are used in industrial fields by applying existing fixed sensors to robots and drones. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a sensor placement method at the interface for rapid detection and response based on various leaking scenarios reflecting leaking conditions and environmental conditions of the chemical handling process. In this study, COMSOL was used to analyze the actual accident scenarios by applying the medium parameter to the case of chemical leaks. Based on the accident scenarios, the objective function is selected so that the velocity of each robot is calculated by attaching importance to each item of sensor detection probability, sensing time and sensing scenario number. We also confirmed the feasibility of this method of reliability analysis for unexpected leak accidents. Based on the above results, it is expected that it will be helpful to trace back the leakage source based on the concentration data of the portable sensor to be applied later.

• 전자공학회논문지 IE
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.28-36
• /
• 2006

In this paper, an algorithm to classify the 4 motions of arm and a control system to position control the prosthesis are studied. To classify the 4 motions, we use flex sensors which is electrical resistance type sensor that can measure warp of muscle. The flex sensors are attached to the biceps brchii muscle and coracobrachialis muscle and the sensor signals are passed the sensing system. 4 motion of the forearm - flexion and extension, the pronation and supination are classified from this. Also position of forearm is measured from the classified signals. Finally, A two D.O.F prosthesis arm with RC servo-motor is designed to verify the validity of the algorithm. At this time, fuzzy controller is used to reduce the position error by rotary inertia and noise. From the experiment, the position error had occurred within about 5 degree.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.149-156
• /
• 2008

SLAM(Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system is to find a global position and build a map with sensing data when an unmanned-robot navigates an unknown environment. Two kinds of system were developed. One is used distance measurement sensors such as an ultra sonic and a laser sensor. The other is used stereo vision system. The distance measurement SLAM with sensors has low computing time and low cost, but precision of system can be somewhat worse by measurement error or non-linearity of the sensor In contrast, stereo vision system can accurately measure the 3D space area, but it needs high-end system for complex calculation and it is an expensive tool. In this paper, we implement the SLAM system using a single camera image and a PSD sensors. It detects obstacles from the front PSD sensor and then perceive size and feature of the obstacles by image processing. The probability SLAM was implemented using the data of sensor and image and we verify the performance of the system by real experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.142-149
• /
• 2009

This paper proposes and demonstrates novel flexible contact force sensing devices for 3-dimensional force measurement. To realize the sensor, polyimide and polydimethylsiloxane are used as a substrate, which makes it flexible. Thin-film metal strain gauges, which are incorporated into the polymer, are used for measuring the three-dimensional contact forces. The force sensor characteristics are evaluated against normal and shear load. The fabricated force sensor can measure normal loads up to 4N. The sensor output signals are saturated against load over 4N. Shear loads can be detected by different voltage drops in strain gauges. The device has no fragile structures; therefore, it can be used as a ground reaction force sensor for balance control in humanoid robots. Four force sensors are assembled and placed in the four corners of the robot's sole. By increasing bump dimensions, the force sensor can measure load up to 20N. When loads are exerted on the sole, the ground reaction force can be measured by these four sensors. The measured forces can be used in the balance control of biped locomotion system.