UltraRobo

Current studies which investigate the use of robotic ultrasound only focus on specific organs. Some examples are the case of autonomous needle insertion for central venous access or the case of a robotic ultrasound diagnostic system for kidney tracking. To our knowledge, robotic algorithms which are commercially available, are used for specific applications, having that generic robotic solutions for automatic ultrasound of moving organs are not present in the market today. Some examples are the robotic system to support rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis and the system for histotripsy, which uses a robotic machine to destroy cancer tissue with sound waves. The goal of this project has been to investigate the market potential of a generic solution for robotic ultrasound which can assist a large variety of medical procedures. Compared to solutions for specific medical applications, this robotic algorithm would have a much larger commercial impact as it could be used for several organs and several types of measurements and diseases. The project had three sub-objectives: SO1 Evaluate freedom-to-operate and protection of IP rights. SO2 Market analysis of the use-cases of the robotic algorithm for distinct medical procedures, i.e. ablation, drug delivery, long-term monitoring/measurements, and analysis of the buyer market. SO3 Improvement of robot control for optimized acoustic contact and organ tracking.

The outcomes of UltraRobo are increased knowledge in patents, IP rights, and market potential of a robotic solution for ultrasound scanning of moving organs. Furthermore, we investigated the different medical applications which could benefit from robotic ultrasound and improved our existing solution.