• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4191-4203
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• 2023

Robotics applications are greatly needed in hazardous locations, e.g., fusion and fission reactors, where robots must perform delicate and complex tasks under ionizing radiation conditions. The drawback is that some robotic parts, such as active electronics, are susceptible to radiation. It can lead to unexpected failures and early termination of the robotic operation. This paper analyses the ionizing radiation effect from 0.09 to 1.5 Gy/s in robotic components (microcontrollers, servo motors and temperature sensors). The first experiment compares the performance of various microcontroller types and their actuators and sensors, where different mitigation strategies are applied, such as using Radiation-Hardened (Rad-Hard) microcontrollers or shielding. The second and third experiments analyze the performance of a 3-Degrees of Freedom (DoF) robotic arm, evaluating its components' responses and trajectory. This study enhances our understanding and expands our knowledge regarding radiation's impact on robotic arms and components, which is useful for defining the best strategies for extending the robots' operational lifespan, especially when performing maintenance or inspection tasks in radiation environments.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.1121-1125
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• 2004

The RT(Robot Technology) has been developed as the next generation of a future technology. According to the 2002 technical report from Mitsubishi R&D center, IT(Information Technology) and RT(Robotic Technology) fusion system will grow five times larger than the current IT market at the year 2015. Moreover, a recent IEEE report predicts that most people will have a robot in the next ten years. RCP(Robotic Cellular Phone), CP(Cellular Phone) having personal robot services, will be an intermediate hi-tech personal machine between one CP a person and one robot a person generations. RCP infra consists of $RCP^{Mobility}$, $RCP^{Interaction}$, $RCP^{Integration}$ technologies. For $RCP^{Mobility}$, human-friendly motion automation and personal service with walking and arming ability are developed. $RCP^{Interaction}$ ability is achieved by modeling an emotion-generating engine and $RCP^{Integration}$ that recognizes environmental and self conditions is developed. By joining intelligent algorithms and CP communication network with the three base modules, a RCP system is constructed. Especially, the RCP interaction system is really focused in this paper. The $RCP^{interaction}$(Robotic Cellular Phone for Interaction) is to be developed as an emotional model CP as shown in figure 1. $RCP^{interaction}$ refers to the sensitivity expression and the link technology of communication of the CP. It is interface technology between human and CP through various emotional models. The interactive emotion functions are designed through differing patterns of vibrator beat frequencies and a feeling system created by a smell injection switching control. As the music influences a person, one can feel a variety of emotion from the vibrator's beats, by converting musical chord frequencies into vibrator beat frequencies. So, this paper presents the definition, the basic theory and experiment results of the RCP interaction system. We confirm a good performance of the RCP interaction system through the experiment results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.31-38
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• 2016

This study proposes an optimal design for a robotic welding system for a high-strength steel armor plate. In order to identify the welding defect parameters, we analyzed the 4M (man, machine, materials, method) characteristics diagram, as well as a cause and effect matrix, to improve the productivity and quality of welding defects. From these analyses, we designed optimal welding conditions and carried out welding tests -- such as mechanical testing and macro structure tests - with positive results. We determined that it was possible to obtain a quality similar to manual welding with our robotic welding system. In the future, we expect that the system will be used as inspiration for future welding system designs.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose the robotic arm control method based on upper extremity electromyogram for lower upper extremity amputation patient. The muscle activity of the forearm flexor, forearm extensor and biceps was analyzed to utilize distribution of muscle activity to a specific position in order to the control input. This control input is converted into a control command for controlling the robotic arm through the algorithm. For the experiment and verify the proposed method, 5DoF robotic arm control system was constructed with 1 channel EMG Module and PC applications through the interworking with each module to perform a three-channel EMG analysis. For accuracy and performance evaluation of control, Experiments were performed with robotic arms moving objects. As a result of experiments which after training for 10 hours by middle 20's man, Validity of the proposed method was evaluated based an average accuracy of 92.5%.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.171-180
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to install a system that compensated for the respiration motion using an articulated robotic manipulator couch which enables a wide range of motions that a Stewart platform cannot provide and to evaluate the performance of various prediction algorithms including proposed algorithm. For that purpose, we built a miniature couch tracking system comprising an articulated robotic manipulator, 3D optical tracking system, a phantom that mimicked respiratory motion, and control software. We performed simulations and experiments using respiratory data of 12 patients to investigate the feasibility of the system and various prediction algorithms, namely linear extrapolation (LE) and double exponential smoothing (ES2) with averaging methods. We confirmed that prediction algorithms worked well during simulation and experiment, with the ES2-averaging algorithm showing the best results. The simulation study showed 43% average and 49% maximum improvement ratios with the ES2-averaging algorithm, and the experimental study with the $QUASAR^{TM}$ phantom showed 51% average and 56% maximum improvement ratios with this algorithm. Our results suggest that the articulated robotic manipulator couch system with the ES2-averaging prediction algorithm can be widely used in the field of radiation therapy, providing a highly efficient and utilizable technology that can enhance the therapeutic effect and improve safety through a noninvasive approach.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.480-488
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• 2006

Industrial and economical importance of CP(Cellular Phone) is growing rapidly. Combined with IT technology, CP is one of the most attractive technologies of today. However, unless we find a new breakthrough in the technology, its growth may slow down soon. RT(Robot Technology) is considered one of the most promising next generation technologies. Unlike the industrial robot of the past, today's robots require advanced features, such as soft computing, human-friendly interface, interaction technique, speech recognition object recognition, among many others. In this paper, we present a new technological concept named RCP (Robotic Cellular Phone) which integrates RT and CP in the vision of opening a combined advancement of CP, IT, and RT, RCP consists of 3 sub-modules. They are $RCP^{Mobility}$(RCP Mobility System), $RCP^{Interaction}$, and $RCP^{Integration}$. The main focus of this paper is on $RCP^{Mobility}$ which combines an autonomous navigation system of the RT mobility with CP. Through $RCP^{Mobility}$, we are able to provide CP with robotic functions such as auto-charging and real-world robotic entertainment. Ultimately, CP may become a robotic pet to the human beings. $RCP^{Mobility}$ consists of various controllers. Two of the main controllers are trajectory controller and self-localization controller. While the former is responsible for the wheel-based navigation of RCP, the latter provides localization information of the moving RCP With the coordinates acquired from RFID-based self-localization controller, trajectory controller refines RCP's movement to achieve better navigation. In this paper, a prototype of $RCP^{Mobility}$ is presented. We describe overall structure of the system and provide experimental results on the RCP navigation.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• summer
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• pp.410-415
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• 2004

Employing knowledge of adaptive possibilities of agents in multi-agents system, we have explored new aspects of distributed modular systems for building ubiquitous heterogeneous robotic systems using intelligent building blocks (I-BLOCKS) [1] as reconfigurable modules. This paper describes early technological approaches related to technical design, experimental developments and evaluation of adaptive processing and information interaction among I-BLOCKS allowing users to easily develop modular robotic systems. The processing technology presented in this paper is embedded inside each $DUPLO^1$ brick by microprocessor as well as selected sensors and actuators in addition. Behaviors of an I-BLOCKS modular structure are defined by the internal processing functionality of each I-Block in such structure and communication capacities between I-BLOCKS. Users of the I-BLOCKS system can easily do 'programming by building' and thereby create specific functionalities of a modular robotic structure of intelligent artefacts without the need to learn and use traditional programming language. From investigating different effects of modern artificial intelligence, I-BLOCKS we have developed might possibly contain potential possibilities for developing modular robotic system with different types of morphology, functionality and behavior. To assess these potential I-BLOCKS possibilities, the paper presents a limited range of different experimental scenarios in which I-BLOCKS have been used to set-up reconfigurable modular robots. The paper also reports briefly about earlier experiments of I-BLOCKS created on users' natural inspiration by a just defined concept of modular artefacts.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.243-249
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• 2013

This paper presents a tool-path generation methods for an automated robotic system for skull drilling, which is performed to access to some neurosurgical interventions. The path controls of the robotic system are classified as move, probe, cut, and poke motions. The four motions are the basic motion elements of the tool-paths to make a hole on a skull. Probing, rough cutting and fine cutting paths are generated for skull drilling. For the rough cutting path circular paths are projected on the offset surfaces of the outer top and the inner bottom surfaces of the skull. The projected paths become the paths on the top and bottom layers of the rough cutting paths. The two projected paths are blended for the paths on the other layers. Syntax of the motion commands for a file format is also suggested for the tool-paths. Implementation and simulation results show that the possibility of the proposed methods.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2017

In this paper, a novel measurement method of radial artery pulse waveform using robotic applanation tonometry (RAT) was present to reduce the errors by the pressing direction of the vessel. The RAT consisted of an array of pressure sensors and 2-axis tilt sensor, which was attached to the universal joint with a linear spring and five-DOF robotic manipulator with a one-axis force sensor. Using the RAT mechanism, the pulse sensor could be manipulated to perpendicularly pressurize the radial artery. A pilot experimental result showed that the proposed mechanism could find the optimal pressurization angles of the pulse sensor within ${\pm}3^{\circ}$standard deviations. Coefficient values of variation of maximum pulse peaks extracted from the pulse waveforms were 4.692, 6.994, and 11.039 % for three channels with the highest magnitudes. It is expected that the proposed method can be helpful to develop more precise tonometry system measuring the pulse waveform on the radial artery.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1949-1960
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• 2004

This paper presents a robot system developed for medical purpose. A 6-degree-of-freedom robot was introduced for physical exercise and rehabilitation. This system was proposed for stroke patients or patients who cannot use one of their arms or legs. The robot system exercises the hemiplegic part based on the motion of normal part of a patient. Kinematic studies on the human body and robot were applied to develop the robotic rehabilitation exercise system. A clamp which acts as an end effector of the robot to hold a patient was designed and applied to the robot to guarantee the safety of patients. The proposed robotic rehabilitation system was verified by simulations and experiments on arm (elbow and shoulder) motion. Patients are expected to be able to exercise various motions by themselves with the proposed robotic rehabilitation system.