Design of a handheld automatic acupuncture device based on Arduino

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the recognized non-pharmaceutical treatment methods worldwide. Acupuncture, as a form of TCM, uses needle stimulation on specific acupoints to treat various diseases, especially for some difficult and complicated conditions. However, traditional acupuncture has some limitations, such as the difficulty of operation, long treatment time, and uncertain therapeutic effects. In order to address these issues, this paper proposes a handheld automatic acupuncture device that can perform acupuncture automatically. The device uses a linear actuator and a rotating motor to achieve two common acupuncture techniques, namely needle thrusting and lifting, and twisting, respectively. The two actions are controlled by Arduino to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. Through 3D modeling and prototype experiments, we found that the device reduces human errors and achieves typical acupuncture treatment techniques such as needle thrusting and lifting and twisting. Therefore, it is expected to promote the quantification of acupuncture treatment and potentially replace doctors in performing acupuncture, thus reducing unnecessary medical accidents.