Table 2.
Overview of autonomous robotic ultrasound systems and their respective components, published between 2015 and 2020
| Topic | Subtopic | Institution | Medical field(s) | Robot | Key system components | Data source for autonomous control | In vivo/phantom study | LORA | Year | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Force measurement | Ultrasound probe | Camera system | |||||||||
| Autonomous image acquisition | 3D image reconstruction | CRCHUM, Montréal, Canada | Vascular | Serial; 6 DOF; F3 [CRS] | External FT sensor (6 DOF) | Linear probe; L14-7 [Ultrasonix] | None | US image; force | Phantom; healthy volunteer (1) | 6 | 2016 | [41] |
| OPTIMAL, Xi’an, China | Not specified | Serial; 6 DOF; C4 [EPSON] | Two external F sensors | Linear probe; L9-4/38 [Ultrasonix] | RGB-D camera; Kinect [Microsoft] | Force; camera | Phantom | 7 | 2019 | [42] | ||
| Trajectory planning and probe positioning | CAMPAR, Munich, Germany | Vascular | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | 3D convex probe; 4DC7-3/40 [Ultrasonix] single plane mode | RGB-D camera; Kinect [Microsoft] | MRI image; US image; force; camera | Phantom; healthy volunteers (2) | 7 | 2017 | [43] | |
| Vascular | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | 3D convex probe; 4DC7-3/40 [Ultrasonix]; single plane mode | RGB-D camera; Kinect [Microsoft] | MRI image; US image; force; camera | Healthy volunteers (5) | 7 | 2016 | [44•] | |||
| Not specified | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | Convex probe; C5-2 [Ultrasonix] | RGB-D camera; Kinect [Microsoft] | MRI image; force; camera | Phantom; animal tissue | 7 | 2016 | [45] | |||
| Thyroid | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | Linear probe; L14-5 [Ultrasonix] | RGB-D camera; RealSense SR300 [Intel] | Force; camera | Healthy volunteers (4) | 7 | 2017 | [46] | |||
| Institute for Robotics and Cognitive Systems, Lübeck, Germany | Vascular | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | Linear probe; L12-3 [Philips] | None | US image; force | Phantom | 6 | 2020 | [47•] | ||
| IRISA, Rennes, France | Not specified | Serial; 6 DOF; Viper 850 [Adept] | External F sensor | 3D convex probe; 4DC7-3/40 [Ultrasonix] | None | US image; force | Phantom | 6 | 2016 | [48] | ||
| Image quality improvement | IRISA, Rennes, France and CAMPAR, Munich, Germany | Not specified | Serial; 6 DOF; Viper s650 [Adept] | External FT sensor | 3D convex probe; 4DC7-3/40 [Ultrasonix] | None | US image; force | Phantom | 5 | 2016 | [49] | |
| Not specified | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | 3D convex probe; 4DC7-3/40 [Ultrasonix] | None | US image; force | Phantom; healthy volunteer (1) | 6 | 2017 | [50•] | |||
| Autonomous therapy guidance | Tool tracking | CAMP, Munich, Germany | Vascular | Serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Internal T sensors | Convex probe; C5-2 [Ultrasonix] | None | US image; force | Phantom | 6 | 2019 | [51•] |
| Target tracking | CAMP, Baltimore, USA and CMBR, Pontedera, Italy | Needle placement | × 2 serial; 7 DOF; LBR iiwa [KUKA] | Not specified | Convex probe; C5-2 [Ultrasonix] | RGB-D camera; RealSense F200 [Intel] | US image; camera | Phantom | 7 | 2016 | [52] | |
| UNISTRA, Strasbourg, France | HIFU | Serial; 6 DOF; [Sinters] | None | 2D probe; not specified | NA | US image | Phantom | 6 | 2015 | [54] | ||
| NCU, Taoyuan, Taiwan | HIFU | Serial; 4 DOF; YK400XG [YAMAHA] | None | 2D probe; not specified | Tracking camera; Polaris Spectra [Northern Digital] | US image, Camera | Phantom | 5 | 2017 | [55] | ||
F force, FT force-torque, Ref references, T torque, US ultrasound