Experiments with the TER Tele-echography Robot

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents a master-slave system applied to the remote diagnosis from echographic data. The motion of the master manipulator is remotely controlled by a physician and reproduced by a slave robot carrying the echographic probe. The contact force between the probe and the patient is fed back to operator allowing him to have a haptic virtual environment. The innovation of this haptic control is to preserve medical expert propioception and gesture feelings, which are necessary to synchronize the ultrasound images with the motion made by the medical doctor. The slave robot is a cable-driven manipulator using pneumatic artificial muscle actuators to control the motion of the ultrasound probe. In this paper we present the architecture and the performances of the slave robot and the first experiments of the master-slave remote echography system for examinations of pregnant women.

Design of automatic transabdominal ultrasound imaging system

“…The system aims at solving the problem of inconsistent contact force and position of the sonographer, which affects the measurement accuracy [26]. Similar robots were developed but not evaluated sufficiently [27], [28], [29], [30]. As for panoramic imaging, there are systems existing, which can perform ultrasound panorama scanning [31].…”

Robotic ultrasound probe handling auxiliary by active compliance control

“…Therefore, parallel robots, which can address the issues, have also studied including our previous work. [4,8] Parallel robots have following advantages: unnecessary of counterweights, backdrivability, and lightweight.…”

“…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.…”

“…In [9], a master hand controller and a graphical user were used. In [4], a haptic device was used as a master controller. And, a GUI was used in [10].…”

A Tele-Operated Robotic System for Mobile Tele-Echography: The Otelo Project

“…This project was followed by the development of a dedicated 4 degree-of-freedom tele-echography robot (the TERESA project) with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) (Courreges, 2001). More recently, a mechanical structure driven by McKibben actuators has been developed to drive a probe holder system for obstetrical applications under the TER French national project (Vilchis, 2002). A parallel robotic structure is also being developed by Masuda, to control the ultrasound probe over a large body area (Masuda, 2002).…”