ABSTRACT
The history of the medical robot is not very far from the first experiment in the 1980s. Nowadays robot in the medical sector plays a vital role in monitoring patient's health condition from distance. This paper aimed at developing an auxiliary medical solution that could provide a wide range of non-invasive diagnoses carried out by an automated robot whose motion can also be controlled manually using either a mobile application or voice command. The authors also incorporate modern features of video conferences and automated patient data management systems using the Internet of Things (IoT) which eventually facilitate medical practitioners in proper investigation from distance. The results of the clinical trial among 6 persons indicated that the robot could measure different health parameters properly using the proposed non-invasive method. The non-invasive results are verified by standard testing equipment and conventional clinical investigation and are also presented in this paper. The developed medical robot having a wide range of functionality could play a significant role in reducing human workload and ensuring timely medical assistance during a challenging crisis pandemic period like COVID-19. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The world have experienced a severe human-health crisis as a result of the emergence of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which was declared a global pandemic by WHO. As close human-to-human contact can spread the COVID-19 causing virus, keeping social distance is now an absolute necessity as a preventative measure. At a time of global pandemic, there is a huge need to treat patients with little patient–doctor interaction by using robots. Robots can be characterized as machines that can execute a wide range of tasks with greater autonomy and degree of freedom (DoF) than humans, making it difficult to identify them from other machines. A wide range of equipment, sensors, and information and communication technology (ICT) are now part of the healthcare system, which has become increasingly complicated. Protecting front-line personnel from virus exposure is the primary goal of using robots in health care. The aim of this study is to emphasize the evolving importance of robotics applications in health care and related fields. This paper examines in depth the design and operation of a wide range of healthcare robots in use around the world. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
The world have experienced a severe human-health crisis as a result of the emergence of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which was declared a global pandemic by WHO. As close human-to-human contact can spread the COVID-19 causing virus, keeping social distance is now an absolute necessity as a preventative measure. At a time of global pandemic, there is a huge need to treat patients with little patient–doctor interaction by using robots. Robots can be characterized as machines that can execute a wide range of tasks with greater autonomy and degree of freedom (DoF) than humans, making it difficult to identify them from other machines. A wide range of equipment, sensors, and information and communication technology (ICT) are now part of the healthcare system, which has become increasingly complicated. Protecting front-line personnel from virus exposure is the primary goal of using robots in health care. The aim of this study is to emphasize the evolving importance of robotics applications in health care and related fields. This paper examines in depth the design and operation of a wide range of healthcare robots in use around the world. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
In order to save manpower, improve the management of COVID-19 prevention and prevent the spread of the epidemic, this paper proposes and designs a medical robot based on a one-chip computer. The single-chip STC89C52 is used as the main control core. Obstacles are detected by infrared sensors. And the robot uses the tracking module to determine the path. The working states of the two DC motors are then changed by the IO-port control L298N drive template, thereby changing the motion state of the robot through the speed difference between the motors on both sides. In the intelligent tracking module, the robot first uses a genetic algorithm to find the best path forward inspection and then enters the ward. After disinfection, the robot uses STM32F4 to drive the OV2640 camera to collect data and detect the mask using the yolov5s algorithm. Finally, it sends the collected information to the computer to realize the real-time monitoring of the patient's condition. The simulation results show that the medical robot can effectively and accurately realize the requirements of path planning, facial mask recognition, and wireless communication. This will significantly improve the efficiency and safety of medical staff. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Oropharyngeal swab sampling is the major viral nucleic acid detection method to diagnose COVID-19. Medical staff exposes themselves to the respiratory secretions of patients, which makes them vulnerable to infection. To protect medical staff, we summarize the clinical requirements for robot into five considerations (standardization, ergonomics, safety, isolation, and task allocation) and developed a remotely operated oropharyngeal swab sampling robot. With robot assistance, spatial isolation between medical staff and the patients can be achieved. We designed a hybrid force/position control scheme for the sampling robot to achieve intuitive operation and stable contact force. The experiment results on phantom tissue show that the sampling robot can achieve intuitive operation and stable contact on the soft posterior pharyngeal. Clinical trials for 20 volunteers and 2 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are carried out. The results of the clinical trial indicated that the sampling robot can collect samples stably and effectively, and the contact force is gentler and more uniform. For two patients diagnosed with COVID-19, the robot sampling results are consistent with manual sampling. IEEE
ABSTRACT
The current crisis surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the amount of responsibility and the workload on our healthcare system and, above all, on the medical staff around the world. In this work, we propose a promising approach to overcome this problem using robot-assisted telediagnostics, which allows medical experts to examine patients from distance. The designed telediagnostic system consists of two robotic arms. Each robot is located at the doctor and patient sites. Such a system enables the doctor to have a direct conversation via telepresence and to examine patients through robot-assisted inspection (guided tactile and audiovisual contact). The proposed bilateral teleoperation system is redundant in terms of teleoperation control algorithms and visual feedback. Specifically, we implemented two main control modes: joint-based and displacement-based teleoperation. The joint-based mode was implemented due to its high transparency and ease of mapping between Leader and Follower whereas the displacement-based is highly flexible in terms of relative pose mapping and null-space control. Tracking tests between Leader and Follower were conducted on our system using both wired and wireless connections. Moreover, our system was tested by seven medical doctors in two experiments. User studies demonstrated the system's usability and it was successfully validated by the medical experts.
ABSTRACT
Robots have been used extensively in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic since its outbreak. One prominent direction is the use of robots for swab sampling, which not only solves the shortage of medical staffs, but also prevents them from being infected during face-to-face sampling. However, a massive deployment of sampling robots is still not achievable due to their high costs, safety concerns, deployment complexity, and so on. In this letter, we propose a flexible, safe, and easy-to-deploy swab robot in a compact bench-top system. The robot can perform nasal/throat swab sampling tasks as dexterous as a human manual operation. The bio-mimetic rigid interior and soft exterior design guarantee the sampling robot with both flexibility and safety. Furthermore, the integration of 3-D fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based shape sensor and multi-axis force sensor may enhance the control performance. A dedicated constrained compliance control (CCC) algorithm was developed to tackle the unexpected interactions during sampling, which ensures the validity and safety of the sampling under disturbance. Various experiments are conducted to validate our system and prove its feasibility, flexibility, high safety, and efficiency for both nasal/throat swab sampling tasks. The proposed system is promising to be massive duplicated for robotic swab sampling.
ABSTRACT
We design a central controller system (CCS) and a tele-controlled system (TCS) with an aim of developing the integrated tele-monitoring/operation system that can enable the medical staff to tele-monitor the state of therapeutic devices utilized in the isolation intensive care unit (ICU) and to tele-operate its user interfaces. To achieve this aim, we survey the medical staff for medical requirements first and define the design guideline for tele-monitoring/operation functionality and field applicability. In designing the CCS, we focus on realizing the device having intuitive and user-friendly interfaces so that the medical staff can use the device conveniently without pre-training. Further, we attempt to implement the TCS capable of manipulating various types of user interfaces of the therapeutic device (e.g., touch screen, buttons, and knobs) without failure. As two core components of the TCS, the precision XY-positioner having a maximum positioning error of about 0.695 mm and the end-effector having three-degrees-of-freedom motion (i.e., pressing, gripping, and rotating) are applied to the system. In the experiment conducted for assessing functionality, it is investigated that the time taken to complete the tele-operation after logging into the CCS is less than 1 minute. Furthermore, the result of field demonstration for focus group shows that the proposed system could be applied practically to the medical fields when the functional reliability is improved. IEEE
ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of 2020, Peru has been exposed to the inevitable spread of Covid-19, a highly contagious disease that is increasing around the world rapidly. Scientists and researchers propose various solutions to mitigate its effects or reduce infections, from simple procedures to complex systems such as robots or vaccines. For this reason, innovative research was carried out from 2020 to 2021 under the supervision of the school of Mechatronics Engineering at U niversidad Tecnologica del Peru, so, this article, presents a SCARA robot prototype capable of performing rapid tests with blood samples to detect Covid-19. In addition, the robot has 4 servomotors and impactive end effector. In addition, this robot has 4 degrees of freedom, and this type was chosen for its speed and flexibility. This study develops a mechatronics conceptual design and kinematic analysis using the Denavit Hartenberg method using Matlab and, CAD in SolidWorks 2021. In conclusion, the purpose is to decrease the workload and protect the lives of people who perform the lab tests, being able to process them with greater precision. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Robots are performing notified roles in many areas since a last decade that are crucial to human researches. They are assisting us in the fields where we require attentive calculations, close observations, and most importantly visiting the places and environments which are difficult for humans to access. Considering the present situation of COVID-19 pandemic in which number of patients is increasing at an alarming rate globally which in turn building huge difficulties on health care workers and doctors. Every individual including the savers are at high risk of getting infected and even death. The total number of healthcare workers in several areas around the globe is considerably low over total infected patients. In this regard, we have developed Shiv: A Robot for Med Field to assist and reduce the work pressure on our healthcare workers. Shiv is commenced to provide an effective low-cost small sized robot backing to hospitals and quarantine zones for performing critical tasks. It can also contrive to assist individuals who are alone at homes with the support of associated doctors. The robot can visit infected patients thrice a day in order to take note of patient's vitals and to provide them with medicines and food items. Shiv is fitted with heartbeat sensor, temperature sensor, sanitization system, networking modules, high speed memory and a 360 camera for virtual interaction of the patient with the doctors and his family as well. The testing of robot on quoted tasks has been accomplished and compatibility check with updated hardware is performed routinely to make it reliable for real life situations. The development Django database synchronization system and an AI based module for playing hymns and music as per the patient's frame of mind are still in progress. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
With the advancements of robotic technologies, the medical environments are adopting more and more aspects of automation to enhance the services in hospitals. In pandemic situations such as COVID 19, direct contact with patients may result in the spreading of disease. In this paper we are going to discuss the design and development of an automatic guided vehicle for hospital applications, which can be controlled remotely. Here we are going to specify the design and development of an automatic guided vehicle for hospital applications, which can be controlled remotely. HARVi is a line follower robot, powered by a battery that can be charged from solar energy. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Recently it is observed that the research advancement is very significant in the field of deployable robots for healthcare sector. Considering the current pandemic situation where social distancing is must- healthcare robots can be deployed very easily to perform the manual task resulting in reduced human efforts. In this paper, the design and implementation of an affordable, versatile system is proposed. The system is IoT enabled to meet the current demand and it can be controlled from any platform. The prototype can follow through lines and recognize hospital beds, can autonomously distribute medicines, record patient vital signs, and also has obstacle avoidance capabilities. There's also a 5-DOF arm, which is controllable over wireless medium by hand gestures. The IoT website can control the robot, record medicines, and view patient vitals' data. This work is intended to leave an impact on the healthcare sector of developing countries. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
About 4.25% of people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 disease, among SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. In an unforeseen situation, approximately 25,000 frontline healthcare workers have also been infected by this disease while providing treatment to the infected patients. In this devastating scenario, without any drug or vaccine available for the treatment, frontline healthcare workers are highly prone to viral infection. However, some countries are drastically facing a shortage of healthcare workers in hospitals. METHODS: The literature search was conducted in ScienceDirect and ResearchGate, using words "Medical Robots", and "AI in Covid-19" as descriptors. To identify and evaluate the articles that create the impact of robots and artificial intelligence in pandemic diseases. Eligible articles were included publications and laboratory studies before and after covid-19 and also the prospective and retrospective of application of Robots and AI. CONCLUSION: In this pandemic situation, robots were employed in some countries during the COVID-19 outbreak, which are medical robots, UV-disinfectant robots, social robots, drones, and COBOTS. Implementation of these robots was found effective in successful disease management, treatment, most importantly ensures the safety of healthcare workers. Mainly, the Disposal of deceased bodies and the location and transportation of infected patients to hospitals and hospitals were tough tasks and risk of infection. These tasks will be performed by employing mobile robots and automated guided robots respectively. Therefore, in the future, advanced automated robots would be a promising choice in hospitals and healthcare centers to minimize the risk of frontline healthcare workers.
Cerca de un 4,25% de personas han perdido la vida a causa de la COVID-19, entre los pacientes infectados por SARS-CoV-2. En esta situación imprevista, aproximadamente 25.000 trabajadores sanitarios de primera línea se han visto también infectados por esta enfermedad, al proporcionar tratamiento a los pacientes infectados. En este escenario devastador, en el que no se dispone de fármacos o vacunas para el tratamiento, el personal sanitario de primera línea está altamente expuesto a la infección vírica. Sin embargo, algunos países se están enfrentando a un recorte drástico de personal sanitario en sus hospitales. MÉTODOS: Se realizó una búsqueda en la literatura en ScienceDirect y ResearchGate, utilizando los términos «medical robots¼ y «AI in COVID-19¼ como factores descriptivos, para identificar y evaluar los artículos que crean el impacto de los robots y la inteligencia artificial (AI) en las pandemias. Los artículos elegibles incluyeron publicaciones y estudios de laboratorio, antes y después de la COVID-19, y también la aplicación prospectiva y retrospectiva de robots e AI. CONCLUSIÓN: En esta situación de pandemia, algunos países utilizaron robots durante el brote de COVID-19, es decir, robots médicos, robots desinfectantes de rayos UV, robots sociales, drones, y cobots. Se encontró que la implementación de estos robots era eficaz para la gestión y tratamiento de la enfermedad y, más importantemente, la garantía de la seguridad del personal sanitario. En particular, la eliminación de cadáveres y la localización y transporte de pacientes infectados a los hospitales eran tareas duras que suponían un riesgo de infección. Dichas tareas podrán realizarse utilizando robots móviles y robots automatizados, respectivamente. Por tanto, en el futuro, los robots automatizados avanzados constituirán una elección prometedora en hospitales y centros sanitarios, para minimizar el riesgo del personal sanitario de primera línea.
ABSTRACT
The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) has caused mortality and morbidity worldwide. Oropharyngeal-swab (OP-swab) sampling is widely used for the diagnosis of COVID-19 in the world. To avoid the clinical staff from being affected by the virus, we developed a 9-degree-of-freedom (DOF) rigid-flexible coupling (RFC) robot to assist the COVID-19 OP-swab sampling. This robot is composed of a visual system, UR5 robot arm, micro-pneumatic actuator and force-sensing system. The robot is expected to reduce risk and free up the clinical staff from the long-term repetitive sampling work. Compared with a rigid sampling robot, the developed force-sensing RFC robot can facilitate OP-swab sampling procedures in a safer and softer way. In addition, a varying-parameter zeroing neural network-based optimization method is also proposed for motion planning of the 9-DOF redundant manipulator. The developed robot system is validated by OP-swab sampling on both oral cavity phantoms and volunteers.
ABSTRACT
A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is transmitting throughout the globe. During this Pandemic situation, medical robots are playing an important role in protecting front line medical staff from this disease. The flexible robotic manipulator has mechanical flexibility, due to that fluctuation or oscillations can be seen either during or after the movement of a manipulator and can create uncertainty in medical operations. During this pandemic situation, reliable operations of these robots are necessary that depend upon the stability of flexible manipulators. In this article, Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), Pole Placement, and Proportional-Integral-Derivatives (PID) control methods have been used to investigate the robust control method for controlling the position of manipulator with flexible link in medical robots. To carry out this research, an effective variant of the flexible Link robotic manipulator has been used as a framework to analyze the robust control method. The Matlab®/Simulink result shows that the LQR control method provides better control response compared to PID and pole placement method and thus provides reliable operation to Medical Robots.