Robotic Ultrasound for Remote Diagnostics: Design and Prototyping

Ultrasound is a relatively low-cost, high-value imaging modality used in a variety of medical specialties. One of the challenges of deploying ultrasound more widely, especially in low-resource settings, pertains to the availability of the specific expertise needed. The premise of this research is that a telepresence approach may reduce this barrier and facilitate increased impact of ultrasound technology. In this paper, we present progress toward developing a robot for remote ultrasound diagnosis, with a focus on requirements specific to pediatric cardiology. Design objectives, constraints, and rationale are explained, and modeling and prototyping results are presented.