Design and Implementation of Automated Nasal Swab Robots by Integrating Visual Detection and Compliance Control

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is widely used to confirm COVID-19 infection, and it must be performed by medical workers according to regulations, exposing them to a high risk of infection. In this paper, we design and implement an automated nasal swab robot to replace medical workers in performing PCR tests. The proposed robot consists of a depth camera for nostril detection and nasal passage estimation, and a 6-axis industrial robot with a force/torque sensor to implement compliance control for safe nasal swabbing. Experiments verify that the vision system works satisfactorily while the compliance control law allows the robot to regulate the contact force within a prescribed level. Therefore, safe and automated nasal swab is accomplished by the proposed robot.