JP7692202B2 - System for reducing the physical burden on ultrasonic inspection robots - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a system for reducing the physical burden on an ultrasound examination robot, which reduces the burden on a subject during examination using a seated ultrasound examination robot.

As an ultrasound examination for the human body, echocardiography is known, which evaluates the morphology and movement of the subject's heart by applying ultrasound to the subject's heart and converting the reflected sound waves into electrical signals to depict them as an image. This echocardiography requires advanced techniques to grasp the three-dimensional structure of the heart and clearly depict the echo image in detail, so doctors and ultrasound technicians are required to have appropriate knowledge and experience. However, there are only a limited number of hospitals that employ experienced doctors and technicians, and many medical institutions currently lack doctors and technicians to perform echocardiography. Furthermore, in ultrasound examinations, the ultrasound probe held by the examiner, such as a doctor or technician, is applied to the subject's body surface at various angles, so the subject is forced to maintain an unnatural posture, and the burden increases as the examination time increases. Therefore, the present inventors have developed and already proposed an ultrasound examination robot that supports echocardiography, which was previously performed by doctors and technicians manually operating the ultrasound probe (see Patent Document 1). With this ultrasound examination robot, the subject is seated and the robot changes their posture while controlling their rotation to the side and forward and backward directions. This allows the ultrasound probe to be placed in the appropriate position and posture on the surface of the subject's body near the heart, allowing doctors and technicians to obtain clear ultrasound images with simple operations.

JP 2023-70607 A

However, in the aforementioned seated ultrasound examination robot, when controlling the posture of the subject sitting on the robot, the subject's body is rotated to the side, so the subject's own weight puts a strain on the subject, and the subject needs muscle strength to maintain posture during the examination, which can be an obstacle to a comfortable examination.

The present invention was developed with an eye on these issues, and its purpose is to provide a system for reducing the physical burden on an ultrasound examination robot that reduces the burden on the subject caused by changes in posture during the examination.

To achieve the above object, the present invention is a physical load reduction system that has a mechanism that operates to rotate a seated subject in a predetermined direction while scanning an ultrasound probe along the body surface of the subject in a predetermined posture, and is attached to an ultrasound examination robot that assists in ultrasound examination of the subject, and reduces the load on the subject during examination. The system includes a detection device that detects force information corresponding to the physical load on the subject during examination, and a physical assistance device that operates according to the magnitude of the physical load, which is the load on the body when the subject rotates, based on the detection result of the detection device. The physical assistance device is configured to include a contact operation unit that operates to be able to contact the subject when seated, and a control unit that controls the contact operation of the contact operation unit on the subject so as to reduce the physical load.

According to the present invention, the physical load on the subject during the examination can be reduced by operating the physical assistance device while the detection device measures information corresponding to the physical load on the subject during the examination.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a robot system for ultrasonic inspection according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the robot body together with a seated subject. FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view of the robot body for explaining the sitting posture of the subject during the examination. 13A and 13B are diagrams for explaining changes in the sitting posture of a subject during an examination and the action of a contact operation unit.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the main components of a robot system for ultrasound examination according to this embodiment. In this figure, the robot system 10 includes an ultrasound examination robot 11 that operates to assist in echocardiography of a subject, and a physical stress reduction system 12 that is provided in association with the ultrasound examination robot 11 and reduces the stress on the subject during the examination.

The ultrasound examination robot 11 has a mechanism that rotates a seated subject in the left-right (lateral) and front-back directions while scanning the ultrasound probe along the body surface of the subject in a predetermined posture. The ultrasound examination robot 11 is composed of a seated robot body 14 that operates to enable echocardiography on a seated subject, and a control device 15 that controls the operation of the robot body 14.

2, the robot body 14 includes a body posture adjustment mechanism 17 that adjusts the orientation of the subject H in a seated position by rotating the subject H in the direction of the arrow in the figure, i.e., in the lateral direction (roll direction) and the front-back direction (pitch direction), and a probe movement mechanism 18 that movably holds the ultrasound probe P and scans the body surface of the subject H in a seated position near the chest wall with the ultrasound probe P in a predetermined posture. During echocardiography, the body posture adjustment mechanism 17 operates while the subject H, seated on the seat surface 17A of the body posture adjustment mechanism 17, appropriately grasps the handrail-like gripping portion 17B located above it with his or her own hand. This operation changes the posture of the subject H's heart relative to the direction of gravity, and the probe movement mechanism 18 scans the ultrasound probe P in an appropriate posture, making it possible to obtain a clear ultrasound image of the subject H's heart.

The control device 15 is composed of a computer that controls the operation of the robot body 14 based on advance information input from the subject H and remote or close-up operation commands from an operator such as a doctor or technician.

The present inventors have already proposed the above-described ultrasound inspection robot 11 in JP 2023-70607, and as it is not an essential part of the present invention, a detailed description of the configuration, etc. will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the physical load reduction system 12 includes a detection device 20 that detects force information corresponding to the physical load on the subject during the test, and a physical assistance device 21 that operates according to the magnitude of the physical load, which is the load on the subject's body when he or she turns, based on the detection results of the detection device 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the detection device 20 includes a seating reaction force detection sensor 23 that measures the force acting on the seating surface 17A with which the subject's buttocks come into contact, and a muscle load detection sensor 24 that detects the force acting on the gripping portion 17B when the subject maintains posture using muscle strength.

The seating reaction force detection sensor 23 is composed of a sheet-like pressure distribution sensor laid on the seating surface 17A, and detects the reaction force of the subject H in the normal direction to the seating surface 17A for each divided section (measurement point), making it possible to measure the pressure distribution on the seating surface 17A. This makes it possible to derive the total reaction force for each area dividing the buttocks of the subject H when seated into left and right, and to grasp the left-right difference in the reaction force in the normal direction to the seating surface 17A when the subject H changes posture.

The muscle load detection sensor 24 is capable of measuring the force exerted by the subject H through the gripping part 17B when the subject H changes posture due to the movement of the robot body 14 while gripping the gripping part 17B in order to maintain the posture. The muscle load detection sensor 24 is made up of a load cell (force sensor) arranged in the gripping part 17B, and is arranged so as to be able to measure the load acting in both the up and down directions on the subject H when he or she grips the gripping part 17B.

As the detection device 20, in addition to the above-mentioned sensors, various other sensors, devices, systems, etc. can be applied as long as they can detect the various types of information described above. Also, as the detection device 20, the seating reaction force detection sensor 23 can be replaced with or used in combination with a sensor or device that measures the reaction force of the soles of the feet of the subject H who is in a seated position and on the ground. In this case, the measurement value can be processed in the same manner as the process described below using the measurement value of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23.

As shown in FIG. 1, the body assistance device 21 is equipped with a contact operation unit 26 that is made of a balloon whose volume can be variably expanded or contracted according to changes in air pressure and that operates to be able to come into contact with the subject when seated, an air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 that is connected to the contact operation unit 26 and is made up of a pump, tubes, valves, etc. that supplies and exhausts air to and from the internal space of the contact operation unit 26, and a control unit 28 that operates the air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 to adjust the amount of air in the contact operation unit 26 and controls the contact operation of the contact operation unit 26 with the subject.

As shown in FIG. 3, the contact operation unit 26 rises from one end of the seating surface 17A (the left side of the body) and is attached to two locations: the inner side of the seat side wall 17C of the robot body 14 that faces the left side of the buttocks of the subject H when in use, and the inner side of the upper side wall 17D of the robot body 14 that faces the left side of the chest of the subject H when in use.

The robot body 14 of this embodiment is capable of rotating left and right between the initial posture in FIG. 4(A) and the left tilt posture in FIG. 4(B). The contact operation unit 26 is not in contact with the subject H in the initial posture as in FIG. 4(A), and when the subject H rotates as in FIG. 4(B) during the examination and changes posture to the left, it expands and comes into contact with the side of the subject H's left buttocks and arm. At this time, the contact operation unit 26 changes the amount of air flowing in from the air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 and adjusts the pressure on the subject H so as to reduce the load caused by the subject H's lateral tilt.

The control unit 28 is configured by a computer that is provided either integrally with or separately from the ultrasound examination robot 11, and is configured to be able to adjust the reaction force of the contact operation unit 26, i.e., the pressing force applied to the subject H that is in contact with the contact operation unit 26.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 28 includes a left-right balance adjustment unit 30 that adjusts the amount of expansion of the contact operation unit 26 based on the detection results of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23 to reduce the left-right difference in the reaction force acting in the normal direction of the buttocks, and a body internal load adjustment unit 31 that adjusts the amount of expansion of the contact operation unit 26 based on the detection results of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23 and the muscle load detection sensor 24 to reduce the body internal load, which is the internal force of the subject H, so that he or she does not have to maintain posture using his or her own muscle strength.

The left-right balance adjustment unit 30 performs the following process if the subject is not gripping the gripping part 17B during the test and is not maintaining the posture with their own muscle strength.

First, the pressure distribution of the reaction force in the normal direction at each measurement point where the subject H's buttocks contact, detected by the seating reaction force detection sensor 23, is added up for each area divided into left and right, and the pressure difference between the left and right pressures in the reaction force of the buttocks is calculated. Then, the expansion amount of the contact operation unit 26 is adjusted to eliminate the pressure difference. For example, when the subject H rotates from the initial state of FIG. 4(A) to the left side of FIG. 4(B) during the examination and tilts, the reaction force of the buttocks on the left side of the figure is larger than the right side. For this reason, the amount of air supplied from the air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 to the contact operation unit 26 is adjusted so that the pressure from the left side of the figure is applied to the subject H from the contact operation unit to eliminate the left and right difference in the reaction force of the buttocks. At this time, the operation of the air supply/exhaust mechanism 27 is feedback-controlled while the detection results of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23 are obtained at predetermined time intervals, and when the difference between the left and right reaction forces falls below a predetermined threshold, the air supply from the air supply/exhaust mechanism 27 to the contact operation unit 26 is stopped, and the amount of air in the contact operation unit 26 is maintained at a predetermined level.

The following method can be used to eliminate the difference between the left and right reaction forces of the buttocks. First, based on the detection results of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23, the moments around the center point of the left and right direction of the seating surface 17A in the left and right directions of the body along the frontal plane of the subject H (around the frontal plane) are calculated for the reaction forces in the normal direction at each measurement point on the seating surface 17A. Then, the aforementioned air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 is feedback controlled to cancel out each moment, and when the total of each moment falls below a predetermined threshold value, the operation of the air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 is stopped.

The internal body load adjustment unit 24 performs the following process when the subject H is holding the gripping part 17B during the test and maintaining the posture using his/her own muscle strength.

First, based on the measurement results of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23 and the muscle load detection sensor 24, the muscle load, which is a load index indicating the degree of use of the subject's muscles, is detected. This muscle load is obtained by dividing the measurement value of the muscle load detection sensor 24 by the total value of the reaction force of the buttocks measured by the seating reaction force detection sensor 23. The muscle load can also be obtained as follows. For example, in addition to obtaining the muscle load from the measurement value of the muscle load detection sensor 24, the ratio (proportion) of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23 and the muscle load detection sensor 24, or the value (proportion) obtained by dividing the measurement value of the muscle load detection sensor 24 by the sum of the measurement values of these sensors 23 and 24, can be used as the muscle load. Furthermore, when the reaction force of the sole is measured by the detection device 20, the measurement value can be combined with the measurement value of the seating reaction force detection sensor 23, or one of them can be selected, and the muscle load can be obtained by calculating the above-mentioned ratio to the measurement value of the muscle load detection sensor 24.

Then, the amount of expansion of the contact operation unit 26 is adjusted so as to eliminate the muscle load. In other words, when the muscle load value is large and the subject H is exerting a lot of muscle force, the amount of expansion of the contact operation unit 26 is adjusted so as to increase the pressing force from the contact operation unit 26 to the subject H. On the other hand, when the muscle load value is small and the subject H is exerting a little muscle force, the amount of expansion of the contact operation unit 26 is adjusted so as to decrease the pressing force from the contact operation unit 26 to the subject H. At this time, the operation of the air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 is feedback-controlled while obtaining the detection results of each sensor 23, 24 at predetermined time intervals, and when the muscle load becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, the operation of the air supply and exhaust mechanism 27 is stopped and the amount of air in the contact operation unit 26 is maintained at a predetermined state.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the physical load caused by the subject H's own weight due to the left-right rotation of the body can be detected, and a reaction force from the contact operation unit 26 acts on the subject H based on the detection result. Here, by using a balloon for the contact operation unit 26, flexibility and strength are ensured to encase the human body, making it possible to support the body according to the individual physique of the subject H. In order to obtain an appropriate ultrasound image, the ultrasound inspection robot 11 needs to maintain a predetermined posture according to the individual physique of the subject H, but regardless of the physical differences, the effect is that the relative relationship between the ultrasound probe P and the subject H can be maintained and adjusted with a simple configuration.

The body assist device 21 may be configured in various ways as long as it provides the same effect as this embodiment. For example, the number and locations of the contact action units 26 may be increased or decreased as appropriate, and other members or mechanisms using elastic structures, biasing members, etc., other than balloons, may be used.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the ultrasound examination robot 11 for acquiring echocardiographic images, but can also be applied to other seated ultrasound examination robots that rotate the subject H in a predetermined direction to enable acquisition of other ultrasound images.

In addition, the configuration of each part of the device in this invention is not limited to the illustrated configuration example, and various modifications are possible as long as they produce substantially the same effect.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Robot system 11 Ultrasound examination robot 12 Body load reduction system 17 Body posture adjustment mechanism 18 Probe movement mechanism 17A Seat surface 17B Grip unit 20 Detection device 23 Sensor for detecting seating reaction force 24 Sensor for detecting muscle load 21 Body assistance device 26 Contact operation unit 28 Control unit 30 Left-right balance adjustment unit 31 Body internal load adjustment unit H Subject P Ultrasound probe

Claims (6)

A physical load reduction system for reducing a load on a subject during an examination, comprising: a mechanism for rotating a seated subject in a predetermined direction while scanning an ultrasound probe along a body surface of the subject in a predetermined posture; the system being associated with an ultrasound examination robot that assists in ultrasound examination of the subject;
a detection device that detects force information corresponding to a physical load on a subject during an examination, and a physical assistance device that operates according to a magnitude of the physical load, which is a load on the body of the subject when the subject rotates, based on a detection result of the detection device;
The body assistance device includes a contact operation unit that operates to be able to contact the subject when the subject is seated, and a control unit that controls a contact operation of the contact operation unit with the subject so as to reduce the body load ,
the detection device includes a seating reaction force detection sensor that measures a pressure distribution acting on a seating surface of the ultrasonic inspection robot with which the buttocks of the subject come into contact;
The control unit is equipped with a left-right balance adjustment unit that adjusts the operation of the contact operation unit so as to reduce the left-right difference in the reaction force acting in the normal direction of the buttocks based on the measurement results of the seating reaction force detection sensor.This is a system for reducing the physical load on an ultrasound inspection robot. The system for reducing physical load on an ultrasound examination robot according to claim 1 , characterized in that the left-right balance adjustment unit calculates a difference between the left and right reaction forces in the normal direction of the buttocks, and operates the contact operation unit so as to reduce the difference between the left and right. The system for reducing physical load on an ultrasound examination robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that in the left-right balance adjustment unit, a moment about the center point of the seating surface in a direction along the subject's frontal plane is calculated from the reaction force in the normal direction at each position of the seating surface, and the contact operation unit is operated so as to reduce the left-right difference caused by the moment . A physical load reduction system for reducing a load on a subject during an examination, comprising: a mechanism for rotating a seated subject in a predetermined direction while scanning an ultrasound probe along a body surface of the subject in a predetermined posture; the system being associated with an ultrasound examination robot that assists in ultrasound examination of the subject;
a detection device that detects force information corresponding to a physical load on a subject during an examination, and a physical assistance device that operates according to a magnitude of the physical load, which is a load on the body of the subject when the subject rotates, based on a detection result of the detection device;
The body assistance device includes a contact operation unit that operates to be able to contact the subject when the subject is seated, and a control unit that controls a contact operation of the contact operation unit with the subject so as to reduce the body load,
The detection device includes a seating reaction force detection sensor for measuring a force acting on a seating surface of the ultrasonic inspection robot with which the buttocks of the subject come into contact, and a muscle force load detection sensor for detecting a force acting on the ultrasonic inspection robot when the subject maintains a posture by muscular force,
The control unit is a system for reducing physical load on an ultrasound examination robot, characterized in that it is equipped with an internal physical load adjustment unit that reduces the internal physical load, which is the internal force of the subject, based on the detection results of the seating reaction force detection sensor and the muscle load detection sensor, and adjusts the operation of the contact operation unit so that the subject does not have to maintain posture using his or her own muscle strength. The physical load reduction system for an ultrasound examination robot as described in claim 4, characterized in that the internal body load adjustment unit calculates a muscle load, which is a load index showing the degree of use of the subject's muscle strength, based on the measurement value of the muscle load detection sensor, or based on the measurement value and the measurement value of the seating reaction force detection sensor, and operates the contact operation unit so as to reduce the muscle load. The contact operating portion is constituted by a balloon that can be expanded and contracted so as to change its volume,
The system for reducing physical stress on an ultrasound examination robot according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , characterized in that the control unit adjusts the pressing force on the subject depending on the amount of expansion of the contact action unit.

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