Portable and attachable tele-echography robot system: FASTele

The purpose of this report is to propose portable and attachable tele-echography robot system: FASTele. Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) is important for patients who have shock by internal bleeding. However, the patient has little time, and transportation to a hospital may take too long. A system which enables FAST more quickly is required. Therefore, we aim to develop a tele-echography (FAST) robot system that can be used by a paramedic easily for shock patient in ambulance or at injury scene. To develop the system, portability and usability (for paramedic) are significant issues. We developed a tele-echography robot system which has 4-DOF. The robot is attached to each roughly FAST areas of patient body (body-based set up) and remotely fine-tuned position by a specialist in a hospital. The robot can control the posture of probe by curvature rails. The mechanism that maintains passively the contact force between the probe and patient´s body surface by using springs enables the robot small and lightweight. Feasibility experiments of FAST are reported.