Medical robots with potential applications in participatory and opportunistic remote sensing: A review

Abstract

Among numerous applications of medical robotics, this paper concentrates on the design, optimal use and maintenance of the related technologies in the context of healthcare, rehabilitation and assistive robotics, and provides a comprehensive review of the latest advancements in the foregoing field of science and technology, while extensively dealing with the possible applications of participatory and opportunistic mobile sensing in the aforementioned domains. The main motivation for the latter choice is the variety of such applications in the settings having partial contributions to functionalities such as artery, radiosurgery, neurosurgery and vascular intervention. From a broad perspective, the aforementioned applications can be realized via various strategies and devices benefiting from detachable drives, intelligent robots, human-centric sensing and computing, miniature and micro-robots. Throughout the paper tens of subjects, including sensor-fusion, kinematic, dynamic and 3D tissue models are discussed based on the existing literature on the state-of-the-art technologies. In addition, from a managerial perspective, topics such as safety monitoring, security, privacy and evolutionary optimization of the operational efficiency are reviewed.

3D Vision System for a Robotic Arm Based on Equal Baseline Camera Array

“…Manually controlled robots equipped with a vision system are mainly used in the environments where it is hard, dangerous or even impossible for a human being to perform necessary actions. The area of application includes medical procedures [14], underwater operations [15], space technologies [16], rescue operations [17] and various industrial applications such as robots on oil platforms [18].…”

No distance between disabled people and rehabilitation engineer in high-tech era

“…Take anther example, a wheelchair for people with disabilities must be a suitable seat according the user's buttocks pressure distribution. So, remote rehabilitation data usually include 2D, 3D and multidimensional, collecting, processing and transmission of these data need new medical robots [14]. All these data are the basis for the designing of wheelchair as it is necessary to combine the moving images, the current physiological function of the disabled people, and the situation of nursing staff, and the environment for wheelchair use [15].…”

Experimental study of the optimum puncture pattern of robot-assisted needle insertion into hyperelastic materials

“…Significant progress for robotic insertion has been made in diagnostic biopsy, local anesthesia, drug placement, and ablation therapy on the pathological tissues of the thyroid, prostate, lung, liver, kidney, and spinal cord. 9,10 However, because of the many potential confounding factors resulting in lesion points unreachable or inaccurate during clinical practice, robot-assisted puncture technology remains a not fully mature technology, 11 and there is still a huge amount of improvements that need to be implemented by researchers to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the robot-assisted puncture. Numerous studies involving robot-assisted puncture have been investigated for many years, which are mainly concentrating on puncture positioning and accuracy of designed robot, interaction mechanics between needle and tissue, and in vitro or clinical experimental exploration.…”