Granted Patent B2

US 10,335,116 · App. 14/690,232 · Granted Jul 2, 2019

Inventors: Emad M. Boctor (Baltimore, MD); Iulian I. Iordachita (Lutherville, MD); Xiaoyu Guo (Baltimore, MD); Alexis Cheng (Baltimore, MD); Haichong Zhang (Baltimore, MD); Fereshteh Aalamifar (Baltimore, MD)

Assignee: The Johns Hopkins University

A61B8/4209A61B8/145A61B8/15A61B8/4218A61B8/4263A61B8/4477A61B34/30A61B90/50A61B2034/2055Y10S901/47

Abstract

Claims (56)

1. A cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system, comprising:

a first ultrasound probe;

a robot comprising a manipulator arm having a tool end;

a second ultrasound probe attached to the tool end of the manipulator arm,

the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe configured to communicate signals therebetween;

a tracker to track at least one of a position or pose of the first ultrasound probe,

the tracker including a camera configured to detect a marker associated with the first ultrasound probe,

the camera and the marker being positioned such that the marker is in a line of sight of the camera during an ultrasound scan;

a robot control system in operable communication with the tracker and configured to control at least one of a position or a pose of the second ultrasound probe based on the at least one tracked position or pose of the first ultrasound probe,

the at least one of the position or the pose of the second ultrasound probe to mirror the at least one tracked position or pose of the first ultrasound probe during a simultaneous imaging operation of the second ultrasound probe and the first ultrasound probe; and

an ultrasound processing system configured to:

communicate with at least one of the first ultrasound probe or the second ultrasound probe; and

provide, for display, an ultrasound image based on the simultaneous imaging operation of the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe.

2. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the tracker is adapted to communicate with the robot control system.

3. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the tracker is an optical tracking system comprising:

an optical detection system attached to the manipulator arm.

4. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the tracker comprises an optical marker attached to the first ultrasound probe.

5. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the first ultrasound probe is configured to operate in both a transmit and a receive mode to detect reflected ultrasound signals transmitted from the first ultrasound probe.

6. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the robot control system is configured to align the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe with a body of interest therebetween, and

wherein the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe are adapted to operate in a transmit mode.

7. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 6 , wherein one of the first ultrasound probe or the second ultrasound probe comprises a dedicated ultrasound transmitter and the other of the first ultrasound probe or the second ultrasound probe comprises a dedicated ultrasound receiver.

8. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 6 , wherein at least one of the second ultrasound probe or the manipulator arm comprises a force sensor arranged to detect a force applied by the second ultrasound probe to the body of interest.

9. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the first ultrasound probe is a hand-operable ultrasound probe such that the robot control system controls the at least one of the position or ft the pose of the second ultrasound probe based on motions performed by a user of the first ultrasound probe.

10. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , further comprising:

an additional manipulator arm associated with at least one of the robot or an additional robot, wherein the first ultrasound probe is attached to a tool end of the additional manipulator arm.

11. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 10 , wherein the robot control system is configured to teleoperatively control the at least one of the position or the pose of the first ultrasound probe based on input from a user.

12. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 10 , wherein the manipulator arm and the additional manipulator arm are connected to a harness, and

wherein the tracker is an optical tracking system comprising an optical detection system attached to the harness.

13. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the robot control system is configured to determine a calibration of the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe based on the signals received by the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe.

14. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system according to claim 1 , wherein the marker further comprises a first optical marker attached to the first ultrasound probe and a second optical marker attached to the second ultrasound probe.

15. A cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system, comprising:

a first ultrasound probe;

a robot comprising a manipulator arm having a tool end;

a second ultrasound probe attached to the tool end of the manipulator arm;

a tracker to track at least one of a position or pose of the first ultrasound probe,

the tracker including a camera configured to detect a marker associated with the first ultrasound probe;

a robot control system in operable communication with the tracker and configured to control at least one of a position or a pose of the second ultrasound probe based on the at least one tracked position or pose of the first ultrasound probe,

the at least one of the position or the pose of the second ultrasound probe to mirror the at least one tracked position or pose of the first ultrasound probe during a simultaneous imaging operation of the second ultrasound probe and the first ultrasound probe; and

an ultrasound processing system configured to:

communicate with the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe, and

provide, for display, an ultrasound image based on simultaneous imaging operation of the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe.

16. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system of claim 15 , wherein the robot control system is configured to align the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe with a body of interest therebetween, and

wherein the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe are adapted to operate in transmit mode.

17. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system of claim 15 , wherein the tracker is an optical tracking system comprising:

an optical detection system attached to the manipulator arm.

18. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system of claim 15 , wherein one of the first ultrasound probe or the second ultrasound probe comprises a dedicated ultrasound transmitter and the other of the first ultrasound probe or the second ultrasound probe comprises a dedicated ultrasound receiver.

19. The cooperatively controlled robot-assisted ultrasound tomography system of claim 15 , wherein the tracker is adapted to communicate with the robot control system.

20. A method, comprising:

tracking, by a tracker of a cooperative robot-assisted ultrasound system, at least one of a position or pose of a first ultrasound probe,

the tracker including a camera configured to detect a marker associated with the first ultrasound probe;

receiving, by the cooperative robot-assisted ultrasound system, information associated with the at least one of the position or pose of the first ultrasound probe;

causing, by the cooperative robot-assisted ultrasound system, a second ultrasound probe, attached to a tool end of a manipulator arm of a robot, to mirror at least one of a position or a pose of the second ultrasound probe based on the at least one of the tracked position or pose of the first ultrasound probe during a simultaneous imaging operation of the second ultrasound probe and the first ultrasound probe;

displaying, by the cooperative robot-assisted ultrasound system, one or more ultrasound images based on the simultaneous imaging operation of the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

aligning the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe with a body of interest therebetween; and

wherein the first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe are adapted to operate in transmit mode.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

Cited By (9)

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