Human Machine Models for Remote Control of Ultrasound Scan Equipment

In this contribution, a new aspect in robotic basic applications is approached. The problem regards the human-machine modeling for remote ultrasound scan equipments. Even if robotic systems for ultrasound scan applications with remote operations have been widely studied, in this research the remote force feedback control has been investigated. This means that the human operator does receive as input the correct force perception that is transmitted by the remote ultrasound scan equipment in analyzing the body of the patient. Two principal aspects have been investigated. The first one is to consider an artificial body model that will receive the control signals from the remote equipment. The second one is to study the suitable feedback control law that try to compensate both the uncertainty between the artificial body and the patient body also taking into account the transmission delay. Therefore the task is to give to the operator the real perception also taking into account of the force effect, thus improving the experience of the remote operation in performing ultrasound scan procedures.