Toward Fully Automated Robotic Platform for Remote Auscultation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cost-effective, fully automated robotic platform designed for remote auscultation, capable of autonomously positioning a stethoscope on patients for cardiac examinations, addressing healthcare worker shortages.

Contribution

It presents a novel robotic system integrating LiDAR-based body registration and passive force control for autonomous, safe, and flexible remote auscultation.

Findings

Enables estimation of cardiac landing positions using body surface data.

Maintains safe contact force during auscultation without push-in displacement.

Demonstrates preliminary feasibility of autonomous remote cardiac examination.

Abstract

Since most developed countries are facing an increase in the number of patients per healthcare worker due to a declining birth rate and an aging population, relatively simple and safe diagnosis tasks may need to be performed using robotics and automation technologies, without specialists and hospitals. This study presents an automated robotic platform for remote auscultation, which is a highly cost-effective screening tool for detecting abnormal clinical signs. The developed robotic platform is composed of a 6-degree-of-freedom cooperative robotic arm, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) camera, and a spring-based mechanism holding an electric stethoscope. The platform enables autonomous stethoscope positioning based on external body information acquired using the LiDAR camera-based multi-way registration; the platform also ensures safe and flexible contact, maintaining the contact force within a certain range through the passive mechanism. Our preliminary results confirm that the robotic platform enables estimation of the landing positions required for cardiac examinations based on the depth and landmark information of the body surface. It also handles the stethoscope while maintaining the contact force without relying on the push-in displacement by the robotic arm.