박형순 교수

BACKGROUND: Recent advancements in wearable sensor technology have shown the feasibility of remote physical therapy at home. In particular, the current COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the need and opportunity of internet-based wearable technology in future health care systems. Previous research has shown the feasibility of human activity recognition technologies for monitoring rehabilitation activities in home environments; however, few comprehensive studies ranging from development to clinical e

This paper presents a novel 7 (active) +2 (passive) degrees of freedom (DOF) exoskeleton to achieve effective rehabilitation of upper limbs with neurological impairment. The 7+2 DOF robot was designed for allowing anatomically correct motions in the upper extremity, and for measuring 18 axis forces/torques and 9 DOF positions. A novel four-step integrated rehabilitation approach was developed and tested including 1) accurate and quantitative diagnosis which is not practical to do during manual c

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the most commonly injured knee ligament with the highest incidence of injury in female athletes who participate in pivoting sports. Noncontact ACL injuries commonly occur with both internal and external tibial rotation. ACL impingement against the lateral wall of the intercondylar notch during tibial external rotation and abduction has been proposed as an injury mechanism, but few studies have evaluated in vivo gender-specific differences in laxity and sti

The human hand is one of the most complex and compact grippers that has arisen as a product of natural genetic engineering; it is highly versatile, as it handles power and precision tasks. Since proper contact points and force directions are required to ensure versatility and secure a stable grip on an object, there must be a large workspace and controllable tip force directions for the digits. Although they are important, many individuals with neuromuscular diseases experience loss of these fea

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology enables users to operate external devices without physical movement. Electroencephalography (EEG) based BCI systems are being actively studied due to their high temporal resolution, convenient usage, and portability. However, fewer studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of high spatial resolution of EEG on decoding precise body motions, such as finger movements, which are essential in activities of daily living. Low spatial sensor resoluti

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) technology along with treadmill training (TT) can effectively provide goal-oriented practice and promote improved motor learning in patients with neurological disorders. Moreover, the VR + TT scheme may enhance cognitive engagement for more effective gait rehabilitation and greater transfer to over ground walking. For this purpose, we developed an individualized treadmill controller with a novel speed estimation scheme using swing foot velocity, which can enable

This paper presents the framework for developing a robotic system to improve accuracy and reliability of clinical assessment. Clinical assessment of spasticity tends to have poor reliability because of the nature of the in-person assessment. To improve accuracy and reliability of spasticity assessment, a haptic device, named the HESS (Haptic Elbow Spasticity Simulator) has been designed and constructed to recreate the clinical "feel" of elbow spasticity based on quantitative measurements. A math

Recent rehabilitation methods for physical impairments utilize various technologies such as robotic devices and gaming software in order to assist, motivate, and facilitate the recovery process. While most of the rehabilitation devices require external power sources, the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been proven as a reliable self-powered sensor that can also be used as an energy harvester. In this work, we utilize the TENG as a game controller as well as an exercise device for patients

A portable teleassessment system was designed for remote evaluation of elbow impairments in patients with neurological disorders. A master device and a slave device were used to drive a mannequin arm and the patient's arm, respectively. The elbow flexion angle and torque were measured at both the master and slave devices, and sent to each other for teleoperation. To evaluate spasticity/contracture of the patient's elbow remotely, the clinician asked the patient to relax the elbow, moved the mann

Patients with impaired upper limb and shoulder function need gravity support during their rehabilitation therapy. It could be beneficial to the patient if the gravity support device could also sustain rehabilitation tasks and exercises. Thus in this work we designed a gravity support device with integrated triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for shoulder rehabilitation. The gravity support part of the device was based on origami design. The rehabilitation tasks were based on the popular exercis

Abstract Human skin plays an important role in hand manipulation by making a stable grasp with an enlarging contact area while providing a firm hold on the object. However, satisfying these two functions is contradictory in conventional single‐layer artificial skin. Softer skin material would increase the contact area, which is advantageous in maintaining the stability, but it decreases the manipulability since the object tends to make uncontrollable movement within the softer skin, and vice ver

The skeletal muscle occupies about 40% mass of the human body and plays a significant role in the skeletal movement control. Skeletal muscle injury also occurs often and causes pain, discomfort, and functional impairment in daily living. Clinically, most studies observed the recovery phenomenon of muscle by massage or electrical stimulation, but there are limitations on quantitatively analyzing the effects on recovery. Although additional efforts have been made within in vitro biochemical resear

A trajectory control strategy for a nonminimum phase system is proposed. A continuous-time version of the Zero Phase Error Tracking Controller (ZPETC), which is a well-known discrete-time feedforward controller, is considered. In the continuous-time case, the overall transfer function consisting of the ZPETC and the closed-loop plant exhibits high-pass filter characteristics. This introduces serious gain errors between the desired and actual output if the desired output is made directly as the Z