Background and Objective: The robot-assisted automatic laser hair removal (LHR) system is developed to automatically detect any arbitrary shape of the desired LHR treatment area and to provide uniform laser irradiation to the designated skin area. Methods: For uniform delivery of laser energy, a unit of a commercial LHR device, a laser distance sensor, and a high-resolution webcam are attached at the six axis industrial robot's end-effector, which can be easily controlled using a graphical user interface (GUI). During the treatment, the system provides real-time treatment progress as well as the total number of ''pick and place'' automatically. Results: During the test, it was demonstrated that the arbitrary shapes were detected, and that the laser was delivered uniformly. The localization error test and the area-per-spot test produced satisfactory outcome averages of 1.04 mm error and 38.22 mm 2 /spot, respectively. Conclusions: Results showed that the system successfully demonstrated accuracy and effectiveness. The proposed system is expected to become a promising device in LHR treatment.
This clinical study successfully demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of robot-assisted LHR. The proposed novel system will benefit both patients and clinicians.
Using the proposed six-DOF pose-measurement algorithm, the performance of the robot-assisted LHR system could be significantly improved from the clinical point of view because most real skins have curved shapes.
The study's findings confirmed the differences of the technical skills among the physicians and between the two clinics. The proposed computer-assisted evaluation of technical skill is useful for assessing physicians' performance during laser skin treatments.
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