Portable and attachable tele-echography robot system: FASTele

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to propose portable and attachable tele-echography robot system: FASTele. Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) is important for patients who have shock by internal bleeding. However, the patient has little time, and transportation to a hospital may take too long. A system which enables FAST more quickly is required. Therefore, we aim to develop a tele-echography (FAST) robot system that can be used by a paramedic easily for shock patient in ambulance or at injury scene. To develop the system, portability and usability (for paramedic) are significant issues. We developed a tele-echography robot system which has 4-DOF. The robot is attached to each roughly FAST areas of patient body (body-based set up) and remotely fine-tuned position by a specialist in a hospital. The robot can control the posture of probe by curvature rails. The mechanism that maintains passively the contact force between the probe and patient's body surface by using springs enables the robot small and lightweight. Feasibility experiments of FAST are reported.

Robotized Tele-Echography: An Assisting Visibility Tool to Support Expert Diagnostic

“…We purposely constraint the motion of the robot to simulate the 4-DOF kinematic of the PROSIT robot by applying only the velocity vector v to the probe (1). Moreover, in order to automatically keep the contact between the probe and the phantom, we regulated the v z velocity by the independent force control scheme (14) to maintain a f * z = 1 N contact force. In a first experiment, the user performed an exploration of the phantom by tele-operating the rotational velocities of the probe without enabling the visibility assistance mode.…”

“…Some of these proposed systems showed the development of dedicated concepts, generally called bodymounted devices, that are usually positioned on the patient's body thanks to the reduced dimensions and their lightweight mechanisms. As an example of the kinematic performances of these concepts, one can refer to [11], [12] for parallel mechanisms and to [13], [14] for serial or hybrid structures. In [15], Nouaille et al showed that, among these structures, a 4 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) light-weight spherical wrist robot is a good candidate to satisfy the strong constraints of mobility, accessibility to any medically isolated place and kinematic performances of the tele-operated device to enable an accurate follow-up of the expert gestures at a distance.…”

Flat-panel ultrasound robot: A novel imaging concept and a novel motorized kinematics for an ultrasound probe during laparoscopic interventions

“…The chambers are framed by a two-parts aluminum body (8), (9). The chambers are separated by a flexible PU membrane (10). The upper chamber is covered by a flexible silicone membrane (11) and incorporates the ultrasound probe (12).…”

Robotic ultrasound probe handling auxiliary by active compliance control

“…However, the robot became large size for counter weights and total weight should be increased. On the other hand, a patient-mounted robot has been reported in [5]. The robot is portable, compact in size, and lightweight compared with serial robots, but the robot uses electric motors on patient skin and less backdrivability because of high gear ratios.…”

“…Several medical prototype robots for US probe scanning have been developed. For example, robots for teleechography, [3][4][5] robotic (three-dimensional)-ultrasound imaging, [6] and robotic automatic scanning. [7] In [6,7], the robots were designed as a serial-link mechanism.…”