Mateusz Cholewiński

In the frame of the project ReMeDi a robot system is designed that features medical tele-examination of patients. Successful medical treatment depends on a timely and correct diagnosis, but the availability of doctors of various specializations is limited, especially in provincial hospitals or after regular working hours. Medical services performed remotely are emerging, yet current solutions are limited to merely teleconferencing and are insufficient. Use case scenarios targeted in ReMeDi feature a robot capable of performing a physical examination, specifically of the two most widespread examination techniques i) palpation, i.e. pressing the patients stomach with the doctor’s hand and observing the stiffness of the internal organs and the patient’s feedback (discomfort, pain) as well as ii) ultrasonographic examination. Beside quality teleconferencing, ReMeDi features a mobile robot (placed in a hospital) equipped with a lightweight and inherently safe manipulator with an advanced sensorized head and/or ultrasonic probe; and the remote interface (placed at the doctor’s location) equipped with sophisticated force-feedback, active vision and locomotion capabilities. The system is incrementally built following a user-centered design approach, and its usability with respect to the patient and the examining doctor is extensively studied in real world scenarios of cardiac examination. ReMeDi will go beyond classical telepresence concepts: It will capture and process multi-sensory data (integrating visual, haptic, speech, patient’s emotions and physiological responses) into perception and reasoning capabilities making ReMeDi a diagnostic assistant offering context-dependent and proactive support for the doctor. Particular attention is devoted to safety aspects. The normative standards (both existing and in draft) and the results of ongoing research projects will be integrated in all the system development phases.

Rescue and exploration robots (RERs) aid rescue crews in the face of disasters. Current RERs,
including those manufactured by PIAP, are teleoperated, what significantly limits their operating
range and requires constant human supervision. The conducted market analysis shows that in the
near future the demand for autonomous devices will dominate. The goal of the project is to
produce a set of technologies and an adequate architecture necessary for the production of
autonomous RERs, or in general service and field robots. In particular, the project will deliver
technologies enabling: perception of the environment; navigation and control of mobile platforms
and manipulators; impedance control of manipulators and grippers; intelligent two-handed
manipulation; active sensing and the use of ontology common to people and robots. The results
will be demonstrated on two robots: a mobile manipulator SCOUT/GRYF manufactured by PIAP
and a two-handed robot manipulator. NCBiR PBS1/A3/8/2012 (ID: 179497).

Główny wykonawca systemu opartego na środowisku LabView i kamerze NI Smart Camera 1774