Robotised teleultrasound exam via satellite

Tuesday 5th August 2008

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Partners in the European MARTE (Mobile And Robotised Teleechography) project, in collaboration with ROBOSOFT have carried out the world's first robotised teleultrasound examination via satellite. This demonstration was accomplished with an ESTELE robot entirely controlled by robuBOX.

For the demonstration, ROBOSOFT made the ESTELE robot available to the project partners. Researchers at PRISME developed and implemented the software for internet communication via satellite between a control station in France and a remote robot carrying an ultrasound probe used to examine a patient onboard a ship in the Mediterranean.

"These kinds of projects show the soundness of the generic approach used in the robuBOX," said Vincent Dupourqué, CEO of ROBOSOFT. "The standard teleultrasound robot was originally delivered for use in a classic video-conferencing system over the phone lines. Thanks to the robuBOX development toolkit, included with the standard robot, a customer can add his own functionalities, and can also integrate the robot into a larger system."

For this project, the PRISME Institute handled adapting the robot software using Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.

Within the framework of the MARTE research program, a group of French and Cypriot researchers prepared the final stages of ultrasound testing planned for the examination of shipboard patients.

This robotised ultrasound experiment took place between June 6-11 2008 in the eastern Mediterranean.

The ultrasound specialist doctors were located in the medical centres on land (Nicosia General Hospital and the Bourges Regional Hospital). Another project team was on board the cruise ship SAPHIRRE of the Louis Cruise Lines company.

The communication link was via the INMARSAT satellite and the BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) technologies. The robotics system used for the experiment is ESTELE, the teleechography robot is made by Robosoft and developed in collaboration with the PRISME Institute of the University of Orleans.

ROBOSOFT