• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.48-56
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• 2014

In robotic surgery, a surgeon checks only a surgical site of patient in the progress of surgery by vision and sound information. In order to solve this limited information, the haptic function is necessary. And haptic surgical robot is also necessary to design a haptic master device. The master device for laparoscope operation with cable-conduit was developed in previous research to give haptic function. It suggested a possibility of developing a master device by using the cable-conduit. However, it is very inconvenient to use. Therefore, this paper suggests a new mechanism design structure to solve the problems of the previous work by new forming a new master device. And it has proved that it's usability is better than previous one. Furthermore it has also experimented and analyzed that a backlash of new master device is compensated by smooth backlash inverse algorithm.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.198-204
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• 2007

In mobile robotics, ultrasonic sensors became standard devices for collision avoiding. Moreover, their applicability for map building and navigation has exploited in recent years. In this paper, as the preliminary step for developing a multi-purpose autonomous carrier mobile robot to transport trolleys or heavy goods and serve as robotic nursing assistant in hospital wards. The aim of this paper is to present the use of multi-sensor data fusion such as ultrasonic sensor, IR sensor for mobile robot to navigate, and presents an experimental mobile robot designed to operate autonomously within both indoor and outdoor environments. The global map building based on multi-sensor data fusion is applied for recognition an obstacle free path from a starting position to a known goal region, and simultaneously build a map of straight line segment geometric primitives based on the application of the Hough transform from the actual and noisy sonar data. We will give an explanation for the robot system architecture designed and implemented in this study and a short review of existing techniques, Hough transform, since there exist several recent thorough books and review paper on this paper. Experimental results with a real Pioneer DX2 mobile robot will demonstrate the effectiveness of the discussed methods.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.172-180
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• 2001

A grape fruit is required for a lot of labor to harvest in time in Korea, since the fruit is cut and grabbed currently by hand. In foreign country, especially France, a grape harvester has been developed for processing to make wine out of a grape, not to eat a fresh grape fruit. However, a harvester which harvests to eat a fresh grape fruit has not been developed yet. Therefore, this study was designed and constructed to develope a image processing system for a fresh grape harvester. Its development involved the integration of a vision system along with an personal computer and two cameras. Grape recognition, which was able to found the accurate cutting position in three dimension by the end-effector, needed to find out the object from the background by using two different images from two cameras. Based on the results of this research the following conclusions were made: The model grape was located and measured within less than 1,100 mm from camera center, which means center between two cameras. The distance error of the calculated distance had the distance error within 5mm by using model image in the laboratory. The image processing system proved to be a reliable system for measuring the accurate distance between the camera center and the grape fruit. Also, difference between actual distance and calculated distance was found within 5 mm using stereo vision system in the field. Therefore, the image processing system would be mounted on a grape harvester to be founded to the position of the a grape fruit.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.776-787
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• 2002

Automation of welding process in shipyards is ultimately necessary, since the welding site is spatially enclosed by floors and girders, and therefore welding operators are exposed to hostile working conditions. To solve this problem, a welding mobile robot that can navigate autonomously within the enclosure has been developed. To achieve the welding task in the closed space, the robotic welding system needs a sensor system for the working environment recognition and the weld seam tracking, and a specially designed environment recognition strategy. In this paper, a three-dimensional laser vision system is developed based on the optical triangulation technology in order to provide robots with 3D work environmental map. Using this sensor system, a spatial filter based on neural network technology is designed for extracting the center of laser stripe, and evaluated in various situations. An environment modeling algorithm structure is proposed and tested, which is composed of the laser scanning module for 3D voxel modeling and the plane reconstruction module for mobile robot localization. Finally, an environmental recognition strategy for welding mobile robot is developed in order to recognize the work environments efficiently. The design of the sensor system, the algorithm for sensing the partially structured environment with plane segments, and the recognition strategy and tactics for sensing the work environment are described and discussed with a series of experiments in detail.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.361-367
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• 2015

This paper presents the design concept of an intrinsic continuum robot for safe man-machine interface and characteristic behaviors of its end-effector based on real experiments. Since pneumatic artificial muscles having similar antagonistic actuation to human muscles are used for main backbones of the proposed robot as well as in the role of the actuating devices, variable stiffness of robotic joints can be available in the actual environment. In order to solve the inherent shortcoming of an intrinsic continuum robot due to bending motion of the backbone materials, a Kalman filter scheme based on a triaxial accelerometer and a triaxial gyroscope was proposed to conduct an attitude estimation of the end-effector of the robot. The experimental results verified that the proposed method was effective in estimating the attitude of the end-effector of the intrinsic continuum robot.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2015

One of the main causes of a limited use of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies in bridge deck assessment is the speed of data collection and analysis. The paper describes development and implementation of the RABIT (Robotics Assisted Bridge Inspection Tool) for data collection using multiple NDE technologies. The system is designed to characterize three most common deterioration types in concrete bridge decks: rebar corrosion, delamination, and concrete degradation. It implements four NDE technologies: electrical resistivity (ER), impact echo (IE), ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and ultrasonic surface waves (USW) method. The technologies are used in a complementary way to enhance the interpretation. In addition, the system utilizes advanced vision to complement traditional visual inspection. Finally, the RABIT collects data at a significantly higher speed than it is done using traditional NDE equipment. The robotic system is complemented by an advanced data interpretation. The associated platform for the enhanced interpretation of condition assessment in concrete bridge decks utilizes data integration, fusion, and deterioration and defect visualization. This paper concentrates on the validation and field implementation of two NDE technologies. The first one is IE used in the delamination detection and characterization, while the second one is the USW method used in the assessment of concrete quality. The validation of performance of the two methods was conducted on a 9 m long and 3.6 m wide fabricated bridge structure with numerous artificial defects embedded in the deck.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 2004

Recently, instruments and systems related on biological technology have been enormously developed. Particularly, many researches for biological cell injection have been carried out. Usually, excessive contact force occurring when the end-effector and a biological cell contact might make a damage on the cell. Unfortunately, the excessive force could easily destroy the membrane and tissue of the cell. In order to overcome the problem, we proposed a new injection system for biological cell manipulation. The proposed injection system can measure the contact force between a pipette and a cell by using a force sensor. Also, we used vision technology to correctly guide the tip of the pipette to the cell. Consequently, the proposed injection system could safely manipulate the biological cells without any damage. This paper presents the introduction of our new injection system and design concepts of the new micro end-effector. Through a series of experiments the proposed injection system shows the possibility of application for precision biological cell manipulation such as DNA operation.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.56-62
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• 2010

Weakly electric fish uses active sensing to detect the distortion of self-generated electric field in the underwater environments. The active electrolocation makes it possible to identify target objects from the surroundings without vision in the dark sea. Weakly electric fish have many electroreceptors over the whole body surface of electric fish, and sensor readings from a collection of electroreceptors are represented as an electric image. Many researchers have worked on finding features in the electric image to know how the weakly electric fish identify the target object. In this paper, we suggest a new mechanism of how the electrolocation can recognize a given target object among object plants. This approach is based on the differential components of the electric image, and has a potential to be applied to the underwater robotic system for object localization.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.26-32
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• 2016

An autonomous car(driverless car, self-driving car, robotic car) is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. Autonomous cars can detect surroundings using a variety of techniques such as radar, lidar, GPS, odometry, and computer vision. Advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles and relevant signage. Autonomous cars have control systems that are capable of analyzing sensory data to distinguish between different cars on the road, which is very useful in planning a path to the desired destination. An issue tree, also called a logic tree, is a graphical breakdown of a question that dissects it into its different components vertically and that progresses into details as it reads to the right.Issue trees are useful in problem solving to identify the root causes of a problem as well as to identify its potential solutions. They also provide a reference point to see how each piece fits into the whole picture of a problem. Using Issue-Tree menthods, transportation safety policies were developed with autonompus vehicle in mind.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.161-166
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• 2014

Recently, indoor sports simulator equipped with virtual reality devices, like screen golf system, are riding high. There have been many attempts to develop the indoor simulator systems which can make people enjoy exercises in various sports area. A real horseback riding could not have been popularized, because of the cost involved, difficulty to learn and its dangerousness. In this research, a robotic horseback riding platform based on parallel mechanism and virtual reality device is proposed. The proposed platform provides realistic riding feels and various levels of riding difficulty. The equipped motion capture system with a vision sensor enables riders to correct their riding posture based on expert's one. The developed horseback riding platform make it possible to enjoy a horseback riding in all weather, and also can be used for systematic horseback riding training.