Construction of 3D movable echographic diagnosis robot and remote diagnosis via fast digital network

Abstract

We have developed a three dimensional movable robot of an ultrasound probe for remote echographic diagnosis to apply between hospital, clinic and home. The probe movable mechanism is carefully designed not to damage the human body since miniature force sensors detect not only the total contact force to body surface but also the angle of probe. The angle and position of probe are controlled not to exceed a dangerous contact force. We tried to control it via a network by using a two-axis joystick.. The remote control software is developed under ORB (object request broker) technique which has recently been used in the majority of distributed object systems. We applied it to control the robot via LAN and 128K ISDN (integrated services digital network). We found that real time control was possible with an image stream by setting the priority for image and control signals to the ISDN router. Though delay time of the image causes stress to the examiner, we confirmed that remote diagnosis of the human abdomen is useful.