To change the perceptions that have been held for a long time and to see problems from a new perspective, you need to encounter and experience various fields of study. And when this process is accomplished, it sometimes creates completely different results and possibilities that we hadn't thought of. Professor Seong-Hoon Ahn of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who studies innovative design and integrated manufacturing, and Professor Joo-Yeon Park, Department of Clothing and Textiles, who research wearable ergonomics, developed gloves for hemiplegic patients, enabling self-rehabilitation treatment for patients who have difficulty in daily life due to partial paralysis. The two, who are striving for a better daily life in their respective fields, continue to collaborate to overcome the limitations of research.

Created by collaboration
Unexpected changes

Joo-yeon Park: The collaboration between Professor Sung-Hoon Ahn and I started with a student who was pursuing a PhD in our lab. At the time, Professor Seong-Hoon Ahn's laboratory developed a fabric made of shape memory alloy, and our student applied it to wearable clothing. However, there was a problem with the temperature rising too high ahead of the doctoral dissertation. During the rehabilitation treatment of patients with partial paralysis, the warmth of the gloves was effective in softening the muscles and joints.



Seong-hoon Ahn: The first opportunity to develop a fabric using shape memory alloy as you mentioned was also thanks to collaboration with the Department of Clothing and Textiles. In a class making soft robots and wearables, a student in our lab studied deformable fabrics using special fibers, but couldn't find a good way to do it. We were able to achieve results by making it with a knitting method and using a shape memory alloy that changes shape depending the temperature. He was able to develop a textile technology that can be drivenly by temperature change without electric current while conducting joint research with professor Nam Yoon-ja, who has now retired.

Joo-yeon Park: Looking at it, I don't think there are any barriers or limitations to research. Collaboration in completely different fields creates unexpected results. In addition, it seems that the direction of study changes greatly according to the development of technology. The history of clothing also began in the Neolithic Age, but now, a technology called ‘wearable device’, which is worn the body but difficult to call clothing, is constantly evolving. Research with professors ise of them. By combining thousands of years of weaving techniques with new materials, gloves that help patients with hemiplegia could be developed. I know that the appropriate technology activities professor is continuing in Tanzania started with that purpose and value.


depends the environment
value of technology

Sung-hoon Ahn: The exact meaning of appropriate technology is technology created considering the level of infrastructure in the local community. A water purification device using solar heat is a typical example, and I wanted to make the 4th industrial technology an appropriate technology. Since 2011, we have installed renewable energy generators such as solar, small hydro, and wind power in remote villages in Nepal where there is no electricity so that they can use electricity at home. With the introduction of electricity, 3,000 residents of mountain villages were able to use simple home appliances such as lights, cell phones and TVs, also build and operate a chicken farm. In 2017, we opened the Center for Appropriate Science and Technology and are continuing our activities in Tanzania. Smart grids and smart factories were built using Arduino, which is inexpensive and easily programmable. During the COVID-19 pandemic, villagers used it to make masks from local materials. More than 10 years have passed, but we are still using electricity from our power plant.

Joo-yeon Park: I think your activities are different from general official development assistance or appropriate technology. Above all, it is surprising that the villagers continue to use the technology, rather than temporary support. What is the secret to successfully completing the project in Nepal?



Sung-hoon Ahn: The process and resources involved are the same as Official Development Assistance (ODA), but I think the biggest difference is that the villagers directly participated. Small hydro power generation requires a water drop of about 100m to produce electricity, but there were no facilities in Nepal at the time. To build a power plant, hundreds of people would have to be mobilized for three months, starting with cutting down trees for utility poles and building embankments, but we couldn't do it. So, I made a video message with the construction method and sent it to the villagers. The construction was successfully completed thanks to the trust in our promise to deliver related technologies if we voluntarily participate in the construction of utility poles and civil engineering. All the villagers built the building with their own hands through hard work, so they had a strong attachment to it and a strong will to learn and use the technology. It was very rewarding in that I and the students realized what I had thought of, and that the technology helped developing countries. I also thought that all technologies can change depending the environment and how they are applied. It seems that professors who study clothing studies that are closely related to daily life have had similar experiences.

Joo-yeon Park: I strongly agree with the statement that the possibilities of technology vary depending the environment. I remember when I was working at Colorado State University. In 2006, an officer from the Colorado Springs Regional Air Force Academy came to visit me. There are many parachutes that are out of use, but it was a waste to just throw them away, so they came to school blindly looking for a way to recycle them. At the time, the United States was in the middle of the Iraq war, so there were a lot of disabled soldiers. I wondered if there was a way to do something good, so I and students designed recycled products such as backpacks and pouches using parachutes, and provided the ideas and production methods to disabled soldiers and their families free of charge. Commercializing it has been a great help to them in their economic independence. In addition, students made evening dresses made of parachutes and held a fashion show. At that time, I was able to look at clothing science with new eyes. I learned that the technology of making clothes can also develop into social contribution activities.

Giving without getting
Know the joy

Sung-hoon Ahn:  I think the reason why the projects in Nepal and in the US were successful was because there was trust in the research. And interest and empathy toward others is an attitude that researchers must also have. Wearable ergonomics, the professor's major, is also a field in which understanding users must precede. ‘Ergonomics’ behind wearables made me look back the philosophy and value of ‘human-centered design’, which had been forgotten for a while due to technological development.


Tanzania Energy-Industry Connection Appropriate Technology Base Center


Wearable smart shoes that improve athletic performance

Joo-yeon Park: Wearables are constantly evolving, but there are still many inconveniences to use. From the point of view that we need to think about ways to help users' lives, we named it wearable ergonomics. We usually think that ife improves in technology or design, the other will deteriorate, but we want to develop a wearable with the best performance in both. Results are showing up little by little. Wearable products collaborated with global companies are going through the commercialization stage, and currently, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, we are collaborating with several researchers to produce a ‘suit that can run 100m in 7 seconds’. As we aim to create customized technology, it is very important to communicate with users, come up with various ideas in the lab, and listen to other people's ideas.

Sung-hoon Ahn: As the professor said, I think I was able to discover more possibilities of wearables because there was a communication process inside and outside the lab. I hope that students will have this attitude of communication in the collaborative process that will be repeated countless times in the future. It's a cliché, but 'Give and Take' is a principle that must be followed even in the collaboration process. At this time, the order will be important, but it makes a big difference to have a heart to give first, even if there is no reward, rather than a heart to give to others in order to obtaine's own. I can ease the worries of the person receiving help, and I myself can be happy to see them. I hope that students will discover the joy of giving to others first in the course of their research or through volunteer work.




Full text: 2023 SNU Magazine People of Seoul National University
https://people.snu.ac.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=71&wr_id=1&sca=Cover+story