Development of a Reassemblable Robot for Automatic Ultrasound Diagnosis.

Ultrasound diagnosis enables us to evaluate lifestyle diseases noninvasively and it is valuable for detection of plaque and obtaining several indices, such as flow mediated dilation. On the other hand, it is difficult to diagnose by using ultrasound device at home or clinic where there is no medical specialist. Previous study proposed a reassemblable robot with ultrasound diagnosis. However, assuming home or clinical use, the robot must control its probe automatically by itself. In this study, we propose the automatic measurement by using reassemblable robot for ultrasound diagnosis. Firstly, we improve kinematics of the robot and confirm that the influence of noise from sensor was small from simulation. Secondly, we design and create a new phantom for calibrating position of two probes and we show we can measure with enough accuracy. Thirdly, we confirmed the restriction of movement territory in brachial and carotid artery measurement with the robot. Finally, assuming measurement for brachial artery, we build an automatic ultrasound diagnosis method and evaluate it by phantom. These results show the possibility of an automatic diagnosis by the reassemblable robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]