Proceedings ofthe 2003 lEEE lntemational Workshop on

Robot and Human Interactive Communication

Millbrae, California. USA, Oct. 31 -Nov. 2,2003

Ultrasonic Sensor Disk for Detecting Muscular Force

Takayuki Tanaka, Shigeki Hori, Ryusuke Yamaguchi,
University of Electro-Communications
1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
E-mail: ttanaka@mce.uec.ac.jp
Maria Q. Feng
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California b i n e
CA 92697-2175, USA
E-mail: mfeng@uci.edu

and Shunji Moromugi

Faculty of Engineering, Nagasaki University
1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Japan
E-mail: smoromug@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Abstract

In this paper, the ultrasonic sensor disk is proposed

as one of the sensor disks embedding the sensor suit.

Recently, many researchers are studying and This sensor is based on an original principle and nondeveloping various kinds of man-machine systems. invasively deiects activity of specif2 muscle. It is clear
Especially8 a wearable robot, such as an exoskeleton that the squore of ultrasonic transmission speed is in
power suit, is one of the most remarkablejielak. In this proportion to the elasticily of the object and in inverse
field, more accurate and reliable sensing system for proportion to the density. It is estimated that the
detecting human motion intention is strongly required
elasticity and density of the muscle increase or decrease
In most of conventionalman-machine systems, torque as the muscle is energized Then, it is hereby expected
sensors, tactile pressure sensors and EMG sensors are that the muscular activity is measured by the ultrasonic
utilized in a man-machine inteface to detect human sensor. In this study, the feaibility of an ultrasonic
motion intention. These sensors, however, have some sensor for detecting muscular force is shown through
limitations. For example, it is hard to install and secure experiments.
torque sensors on the joints of a human body. It is not
easy to correlate the datafrom a tactilepressure sensor to Keywords: Ultrasonic sensor, Muscular force,
the hummi motion intention. AIthough the EMG sensor
can detect human motion intention, the sensor system is Sensor suit, Man-machine interface
complex and expensive, and sufferssfromelectric noise.
We have been developing an innovative sensor suit
which, just like a wet suit, can be convenientlyput on by
1. Background
an operator to detect his or her motion intention by noninvasively monitoring his or her muscle conditions such as
the shape, the sti@ess and the density. This sensor suit
A sensing system that detects the motion intention of
is made of sop and elasticfabrics embedded with arrays of
and loading on an operator plays a critical role in a human
MEMS sensors such as strain gauges, ultrasonic sensors
(operator)-machine system. In onr project, an innovative
and optical fiber sensors, to measure dyerent kinds of
haptic sensing system with a distributed sensing capacity
human muscle conditions. In the previous paper, the
is proposed based on the fact that humao motion is
muscle stifiess sensor for detecting musclar force was
actuated by certain muscles, and thus the shape, stiffness,
developed according io the fact that the muscle gains its
elasticity and density of the muscles change accordingly
strfiess as it is activated. Its sperior peqbmance was
with the motion and loading conditions of the human body.
reported through experiments in which the sensor was
As shown in Figure 1, the proposed sensing system is a
appliedfor the assisting devicefor the disable.
suit made of soft elastic fabrics in which arrays of tiny
(such as MEMS) sensor disks and optical fibers are

0-7803-8136-W03/$17.OW2003 IEEE

291

2. Measuring Concept to Detect

Muscular Activity Using Ultrasonic
Sensor
In case of measuring muscular activity, some
activating factor of the muscle is detected by a sensor
device, for example, the muscular electric potential in
EMG sensor and the muscle stiffness in OUT previous study.
In this study, we paid our attention to the fact that the
ultrasonic transmission speed is cbanged by the elasticity
and density of the object, and also the estimation that the
elasticity and density of the muscle increase or decrease as
the muscle is energized. The ultrasonic transmission
speed is obtained by the following equation;

Figure 1. Seosor suit with embedded sensor disks

embedded. The sensor disks are made of strain gauges,
ultrasonic sensors and other types of sensors for measuring
stifi%ess, elasticity and density of the muscles. The
optical fibers embedded in the sensor suit will act as
distributed sensors to capture the motion and the shape of
the muscles. In this way, different types of sensor are
integrated in the sensor suit and the data from all these
different senso* are fused in order to achieve accurate and
reliable measurement of the operator's motion. The
sensor suit is not only easy to put on, but also autoadaptive to an individual operator. More importantly, it
perfectly and comfortably fits the body of the operator
without impeding motion against the operator.
Figure 2 shows the muscle stiffiess sensor, one type
of the sensor disks developed in the previous study [I].
T h e disks are embedded in a cuff (considered as a part of
the sensor suit) made of soft fabric that is wrapped around
the operator's soft tissue surface. The stiffiess of the
muscle is detected by measuring the change in pressure on
the sensor using a pair of strain gauge. We succeeded in
detecting the activity of a specific muscle by using the
developed sensor.
In this paper, we propose the innovative ultrasonic
sensor disk for detecting muscular force. This sensor is
developed on basis of the characteristics of ultrasonic
wave and muscular activities. The measuring concept
and trial development of two types of ultrasonic sensor
disks are described. Experimental results show the
possibility of measuring muscular force using this sensor.

where, V is the ultrasonic transmission speed, K is the

elasticity of the object and p is the density of the object.
The muscle activity is considered as the cause of the
changes of parameter K and p. Therefore, it is expected
that the muscular force is measured by the ultrasonic
sensor.
Figure 3 show the measuring concept (of Type 1
described in 3.1) using a pair of ultrasonic sensor disks.
The transmission speed of an ultrasonic wave in a muscle
can be measured by counting standard pulses.

3.

Fundamental Study
3.1
Trial Development of Ultrasonic
Sensor Disks Prototype 1

In order to explore the possibility of measuring

muscular activity based on the proposed method, we
developed the ultrasonic sensor disk prototype 1 as shown

Ultrasoni
sensor

(2OOkHt)

Figure 3. Measuring concept of ultrasonic sensor disks

Figure 2. Muscle stifhess snesor

292

maximum force upward in tum with keeping his elbow

right angle 30 deg. Although the dispersion is high, the
received pulse, which means time until an ultrasonic wave
passed a receiver fiom transmitter, shows decreased steps
corresponding to the increased load exerted on the
operator. The measured data at each elbow angle is
sbown in Figure 7. In this figure, the measured data fits
the following approximated curve;

U=

(F+ b)'

where, U is the normalized received pulse, and F is the

normalized muscular force.

= 30 deg

Figure 4. Developed ultrasonic sensor disks

prototype 1
in Figure 4 [2]. In the prototype 1, a pair of ultrasonic
sensors of which the resonate frequency is 200 kHz is used,
and time until an ultrasonic wave passes a receiver from a
transmitter is counted by a timer using standard pulses of
625 ICHZ.The output voltage of transmitter is 5 V.

3.2

v)

3
Q

Fundamental Experiments

Fundamental experiments are performed in order to

verify the relation between the developed sensor data and
the muscular force. In these experiments, a pair of sensor
disks put on the upper arm shown in Figure 5. Two
sensor disks are symmentric with respect to the biceps
muscle. The elbow angle is measured by a rotary encoder
Figure 6 shows the measured data when the operator
exerts 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 100 % of his or her

50

Muscle force

100

Figure 6. Relation between muscle force and

sensor data

/ +e'

Encoder
Figure 7. Relation among elhow angle, muscular
force and sensor data

Figure 5. Setup for fundamental experiments

293

Figure 7 shows, at all elbow angles, the received

pulse decreases according the muscular force increases,
i.e., these fundamental experiments show the possibility of
measuring the muscular force using the proposed
ultrasonic sensor disk.

Figure 8 shows a developed sensor disk prototype 2.

This sensor is embedded on a cuff, a part of the sensor suit,
to be stuck on the surface skin as shown in Figure 9 and IO.

4. Improved Ultrasonic Sensor Disk

4.1

Ultrasonic Sensor Disk Prototype 2

Fundamental experiments provide that the ultrasonic

sensor disk is able to detect the muscular force. However.
As shown in Figure 6, the dispersion of the measured data
is high. In order to achieve accurate and reliable sensing,
we improved ultrasonic sensor disk in the following three
points.
(a) The output voltage of the transmitter: 12V, 200 kHz
Ultrasonic waves have damping characteristics. The
dispersion, absorption and diffusion are cause of the
damping. By increasing the output of the transmitting
wave, the signal level of the receiving wave grows higher
and the observation becomes easier. The output voltage
amount of the transmitter of the sensor disk prototype 1 is
hard enough. When a signal is received, the result of
observation includes measurement error. However, when
it is high output too much, the tissues of the human body
will be destroyed. Ultrasonic sensor equipment for
medical use is designed as the ultrasonic output power is
less than 0.1 W per 1 square centimeter. In these
considerations, the sensor disk prototype 2 improves in
quality by raising the output voltage to 12 V.
@)The voltage of the amplifier of the receiver: 12 V
Because the amplifier used in the prototype 1 is close to a
limit of the element, a signal level was lower, and the
measured data was unstable. In the sensor disk prototype
2, a higher-performance amplifier is applied. The
1,000,000 times output signal can be obtained by making
the amplifier voltage of the receiving patt 12 V.

Figure 8. Ultrasonic sensor disk prototype 2

Figure 9. Embedding on the sensor suit

(c) The time resolution of the counter: 20 MHz

The ultrasonic transmission speed inside the human body
is approximately 1,500 m/s, and the transmission time is
less than 133E-6 s. The standard vibration of the sensor
disk prototype 1 was 625 IrHz,i.e. the time resolution was
1.6E-6s, and was insufficient. In the prototype 2, the
ceramics vibration transducer is used for the oscillating
circuit. The time resolution is improved to 0.5E-7s.
Figure 10. Sensor cuff putting around upper arm

294

Repeatabrlrtyof Ultrasonic Sensor Desk Pmrotype 2

4.2
Comparison between Prototype 1 and
Prototype 2
Figure 11 shows relation among the muscular force
of biceps, elbow angle and the received pulse using
prototype 1 and 2 respectively. As shown in this figure,
prototype 2 provides more accurate measurement.

Figure 12. Repeatability of prototype 2

5. Conclusion
In this paper, we developed two prototypes of
ultrasonic sensor disk for the proposed sensor suit based
on an original principle. It was shown the higher
possibility of detecting the muscular force using ultrasonic
sensor disks. In future works, authors would like to
theoretically prove the effectiveness of ultrasonic smor
disks om a biomechanics viewpoint.

(a) Prototype 1

References

.F w c c FI%I

[I] S. Moromugi, Y. Koujina, S. Ariki, A. Okamoto, T.

Tanaka, M.Q. Feng and T. Ishimatsn, "Muscle
Stiffness Sensor to Control Assisting Device for
Disabled", Proc. The Sm International Sysposium on
Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, 459-462
(2003).
[2] T. Tanaka, R Yamaguchi, M.Q. Feng and S.
Moromugi, "Wearable Sensor Suit (1" Repolt)", Proc.
of 20" Annual Conference of Robotics Society of
Japan (in Japanese), IF-24 (2002).

~ihow
joint~&:a[&g]

(b) Prototype 2

Figure 11. Comparison between two prototypes

4.3 The Repeatability of Prototype 2
Figure 12 shows ten times experimental results in the
same conditions when the operator keeps his or her elbow
angle 0 and 90 degree and exerts 0% and 40% of
maximum biceps muscluar force. In this figure, the
repeatabilityis higher.
As shown in Figure 11 and 12, the improved
ultrasonic sensor disk prototype 2 provides more accurate
and reliable measurement.

295