Teleoperated medical robotic systems allow procedures such as surgeries, treatments, and diagnoses to be conducted across short or long distances while utilizing wired and/or wireless communication networks. This study presents a systematic review of the relevant literature between the years 2004 and 2015, focusing on medical teleoperated robotic systems which have witnessed tremendous growth over the examined period. A thorough insight of telerobotics systems discussing design concepts, enabling technologies (namely robotic manipulation, telecommunications, and vision systems), and potential applications in clinical practice is provided, while existing limitations and future trends are also highlighted. A representative paradigm of the short-distance case is the da Vinci Surgical System which is described in order to highlight relevant issues. The long-distance telerobotics concept is exemplified through a case study on diagnostic ultrasound scanning. Moreover, the present review provides a classification into short- and long-distance telerobotic systems, depending on the distance from which they are operated. Telerobotic systems are further categorized with respect to their application field. For the reviewed systems are also examined their engineering characteristics and the employed robotics technology. The current status of the field, its significance, the potential, as well as the challenges that lie ahead are thoroughly discussed.

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SUMMARYThis paper deals with processes of optimisation for the design of a four degree-of-freedom robot dedicated to remote ultrasound tele-echography. This robot is designed to track the medical gestures of a remote expert moving an ultrasound probe. The goal is to optimise the kinematic structure by fixing the geometric parameters; these have a significant role in robot configuration singularities, with respect to current medical gestures and mechanism compactness. After choosing a dedicated kinematic structure, several optimisations are presented. Then an optimal choice of geometrical parameters of a global function in relation with kinematic performance indices and compactness is proposed. This robot is soon to be used in the experimental medical phase of the Prosit project.