Development of cooperate system with medical robot to alleviate fatigue in echography

We have developed a support system using our ultrasound diagnosis robot, which is able to support manual handling of ultrasound probe in echography to alleviate fatigue of examiner. This system realizes a coordinate motion according to the motion of the probe, which is hold by the robot and is moved by an examiner. We have established three kinds of situations, which are initial fixation, coordinate motions with/without contact on the body surface. The system recognizes when the examiner grasps the ultrasound probe by 6-axis force sensor and touches it on body surface by processing echograms. Not only unskilled examiners but also a professional sonographer have evaluated the performance of the system after elucidating multiple parameters for compliance control and self-weight and moment compensation of the probe. As the results, this system has the potential to be able to support advanced diagnosis for conventional echography.