Search papers, labs, and topics across Lattice.
This paper introduces an omni-directional probe-orientation control framework for robotic ultrasound imaging that enhances image quality by allowing the probe to maintain non-normal angles relative to the patient鈥檚 surface. By integrating RGB-D perception and local-surface modeling, the system can accurately track arbitrary angles, which is crucial for procedures like echocardiography that require specific probe orientations. The results demonstrate a mean angular tracking error of just 1.06 degrees, enabling effective acquisition of desired imaging views in both phantom and in-vivo settings.
Robotic ultrasound can now achieve precise non-normal probe angles, improving diagnostic imaging quality with a tracking error of only 1.06 degrees.
Ultrasound (US) provides real-time, radiation-free imaging, but the image quality depends strongly on how the probe is oriented against the patient body. Robotic US can reduce operator workload and improve acquisition consistency; however, most existing systems focus on normal positioning, where the probe is maintained perpendicular to the local surface. This constraint is inadequate for examinations like echocardiography, where obtaining a diagnostic view requires a non-normal probe angle. Consequently, a clinically useful robotic system must sense the local surface in real-time and preserve the desired probe orientation. Here, we propose an omni-directional probe-orientation control framework that integrates RGB-D perception, local-surface modeling, and task-space orientation control. The surface model fuses multi-view point clouds and provides a quadratic estimate of the local surface. A desired imaging direction is then encoded relative to the normal, enabling the probe to track arbitrary angles. The framework was evaluated through flat-surface tracking, phantom target-angle recovery, and in-vivo tracking of an expert selected view. Results show that the mean angular tracking error was 1.06 +- 0.66 deg. The system recovered a non-normal tilt angle of up to 44.39 +- 2.59 deg relative to the surface normal, and acquired the desired heart chamber view in the phantom and in-vivo experiments.
