Design of a manipulator system for hemorrhage detection and treatment using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound

This paper outlines the design of a portable manipulator system for use in remote detection and care of hemorrhage using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). We have developed a kinematically redundant manipulator that uses high fidelity force control for safe interaction with human patients. The manipulator is outfitted with a dual imaging and sonication end-effector for hemorrhage detection and treatment. Unlike most available force controlled manipulators, the design presented in this paper has all the actuation embedded inside its body eliminating the need for a base which greatly improves portability. We review the main design features, advantages, and trade-offs of this approach and present experimental data of hemorrhage detection and controlled sonication of biological tissue samples.