Digital Vein Mapping Using Augmented Reality

Abstract

Vein detection is an important issue for the medical field. There are some commercial devices for detecting veins using infrared radiation. However, most of these commercial solutions are cost-prohibitive. Recently, veins detection has attracted much attention from research teams. The main focus is on developing real-time systems with low-cost hardware. Systems developed to reduce costs suffer from low frame rates. This, in turn, makes these systems not suitable for real-world applications. On the other hand, systems that use powerful processors to produce high frame rates suffer from high costs and a lack of mobility. In this paper, a real-time vein mapping prototype using augmented reality is proposed. The proposed prototype provides a compromised solution to produce high frame rates with a low-cost system. It consists of a USB camera attached to an Android smartphone used for real-time detection. Infrared radiation is employed to differentiate the veins using 20 Infrared Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The captured frames are processed to enhance vein detection using light computational algorithms to improve real-time processing and increase frame rate. Finally, the enhanced view of veins appears on the smartphone screen. Portability and economic cost are taken into consideration while developing the proposed prototype. The proposed prototype is tested with people of different ages and gender, as well as using mobile devices of different specifications. The results show a high vein detection rate and a high frame rate compared to other existing systems.

Augmented Reality (AR) for Surgical Robotic and Autonomous Systems: State of the Art, Challenges, and Solutions

“…For instance, Liu et al [61] recounted the utility of an AR-based guidance system for tongue tumor removal during transoral robotic surgery, where the daVinci robot gripper used collision avoidance algorithms to identify areas of interest and adjust the area of extraction in its holographic view. In [62], several proof-ofconcept devices have been presented with low-cost digital platforms for vein location. They consist of high-intensity IR LEDs for virtual vessel enhancement diffusion on an augmented HMD or a smartphone such as the Google Nexus.…”