Medical Robotics for Ultrasound Imaging: Current Systems and Future Trends

Abstract

Purpose of Review This review provides an overview of the most recent robotic ultrasound systems that have contemporary emerged over the past five years, highlighting their status and future directions. The systems are categorized based on their level of robot autonomy (LORA). Recent Findings Teleoperating systems show the highest level of technical maturity. Collaborative assisting and autonomous systems are still in the research phase, with a focus on ultrasound image processing and force adaptation strategies. However, missing key factors are clinical studies and appropriate safety strategies. Future research will likely focus on artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality to improve image understanding and ergonomics. Summary A review on robotic ultrasound systems is presented in which first technical specifications are outlined. Hereafter, the literature of the past five years is subdivided into teleoperation, collaborative assistance, or autonomous systems based on LORA. Finally, future trends for robotic ultrasound systems are reviewed with a focus on artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality.

An Introduction to Robotically Assisted Surgical Systems: Current Developments and Focus Areas of Research

“…-Novel imaging sensors and augmented reality: The intraoperative use of novel imaging sensors (e.g. integrating multi-or hyperspectral, ultrasound or photoacoustic imaging [83][84][85]) and the rapid development of machine learning, promotes research on various advanced imaging methods for the enrichment of surgical site information. While the intraoperative registration of bony structures is standard in orthopedics, it is still an unsolved challenge for deformable soft tissue structures such as in laparoscopy.…”

Towards fully automated robotic platform for remote auscultation

“…Robot‐assisted diagnosis has been investigated worldwide, especially in ultrasonography 10,11 . The types of robotic ultrasonography can be classified as remote operation, human‐robot cooperation, and autonomous operation 11,12 .…”

“…Robot‐assisted diagnosis has been investigated worldwide, especially in ultrasonography 10,11 . The types of robotic ultrasonography can be classified as remote operation, human‐robot cooperation, and autonomous operation 11,12 . Particularly, there have been numerous studies on the development of tele‐operated robotic ultra‐sonography systems 13–21 .…”

“…10,11 The types of robotic ultrasonography can be classified as remote operation, human-robot cooperation, and autonomous operation. 11,12 Particularly, there have been numerous studies on the development of tele-operated robotic ultrasonography systems. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] For fully autonomous robotic ultrasonography, several studies proposed an optimization of the scan trajectory based on the visual servo, real-time 3D reconstruction with the scanned images, and reproduction of the expert's operation in those days.…”

Collaborative Robotic Ultrasound Tissue Scanning for Surgical Resection Guidance in Neurosurgery

“…Recently, robotically-controlled US scanning systems have been proposed (see e.g. [2]) but the scanning of brain tissue poses major challenges to robotic systems because of the safety-critical nature of the procedure, the very low and precise contact forces required, the narrow access space and the large variety of tissue properties (hard scull, soft brain structure). The aim of this paper is to introduce a robotic platform for autonomous iUS tissue scanning to optimise intraoperative diagnosis and improve surgical resection during robot-assisted operations.…”