A user interface for mobile robotized tele-echography

Ultrasound imaging allows the evaluation of the degree of emergency of a patient. However, in many situations no experienced sonographer is available to perform such echography. To cope with this issue, the OTELO project ‘‘mObile Tele-Echography using an ultra-Light rObot’’ (OTELO) aims to develop a fully integrated end-to-end mobile tele-echography system using an ultralight, remotely controlled six degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot. In this context, this paper deals with the user interface environment of the OTELO system, composed by the following parts: an ultrasound video transmission system providing real-time images of the scanned area at each moment, an audio/video conference to communicate with the paramedical assistant and the patient, and finally a virtual reality environment, providing visual and haptic feedback to the expert, while capturing the expert’s hand movements with a one-DOF hand free input device.