Health Care : Current Reviews

Tele-robotic systems in medicine: Challenges and potential

Joint Meeting on 13^th World Congress on Industrial Healthcare and Medical Tourism & 2^nd World Congress on Bioinformatics & System Biology

October 15-16, 2018 Dubai, UAE

Sotiris Avgousti, Panicos Masouras, Eftychios G Christoforou, Andreas S Panayides, Pierre Vieyres and Cyril Novales

Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus

University of Cyprus, Cyprus

Universite of Orleans, France

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Health Care Current Reviews

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Medical robotic systems have been employed in various fi elds including general surgery, neurosurgery, and orthopedics. Tele-operated robots perform diagnostic and interventional tasks utilizing wired and/or wireless communication networks. A classifi cation into short and long-distance tele-robotic systems has been adopted, depending on the distance from which they are operated. A representative paradigm of the short-distance case is the da Vinci surgical system. An example of the long-distance tele-robotics concept is the MELODY system for tele-echography. Challenges concern the key enabling technologies involved namely robotic manipulation, telecommunications and vision systems.Methodology & Th eoretical Orientation: A systematic review of existing systems identifi ed the challenges as well as the potential of tele-robotics. Moreover, a tele-echography platform with a portable robot (MELODY system) for remote cardiac ultrasonography was set up. Diff erent video coding standards for cardiac ultrasound applications were compared in a real-time setup using 4G wireless networks and machine-to-machine communications.Findings: Tele-robotics has already been employed for various applications in diff erent medical disciplines. Even though some general-purpose tele-robotic systems have been developed the majority are application/anatomy specifi c. Moreover, manipulation systems used for tele-robotic applications are diverse in terms of kinematic structure, degrees-of-freedom and actuation methods. Despite remarkable achievements demonstrated by many tele-robotic systems only a few of them have been commercialized and adopted in clinical practice. Also, the majority of existing systems have been short-distance ones and the potential of operating them remotely remains largely unexploited. Based on the depicted experimental setup, mobile tele-echography using commercially available Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless networks and state-of-the-art video compression standards provide solid foundations for adopting remote long-distance examinations in standard clinical practice.Conclusion & Signifi cance: Further eff orts are required to address both clinical and technological challenges before the full potential of tele-robotics can be exploited. Benefi ts of using long-distance tele-robotics will particularly apply to rural areas, emergency incidents, military operations and in developing countries, where specialized medical personnel is not available.Recent Publications1. S Avgousti, et al. (2016) Cardiac ultrasonography over 4G wireless networks using a tele-operated robot. Healthc. Technol. Lett.; 3(3): 212-217.

Biography :

Sotiris Avgousti is currently working as an instructor Nursing Department at the Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus. He has received his PhD in Tele-robotics Engineering from the University of Orleans, France and his MSC in Computer Networks and Data Communication from Brunel University London, UK. He has extensive research experience in the  elds of data communications and telemedicine with particular emphasis on tele-echography, eHealth and mHealth, medical imaging and nursing informatics. He is registered as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) at the Engineering Council of the UK and he is a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK.

E-mail: sotiris.avgousti@cut.ac.cy