Remote Human-robot Collaborative Impedance Control Strategy of Pharyngeal Swab Sampling Robot

Abstract

Pharyngeal swab sampling, as an essential link in the detection of COVID-19, is characterized by the large task volume and susceptibility to infection. Therefore, it is necessary to use medical robots for remote sampling instead of in-situ sampling. However, on one hand, due to the influence of network delay, it is difficult to guarantee the closed-loop performance manipulated remotely by medical practitioners. On the other hand, the sampling process controlled by the robot independently is not always successful due to the inaccuracy of the planned trajectory caused by the sensors or the moment of the patients. To solve the problems discussed above, this paper proposed a remote human-robot collaborative strategy based on impedance control method, which can integrate the experience of medical practitioners into the automatic sampling process. During the sampling process, when the inaccurate scanning trajectory is detected, the medical practitioners can correct the planned trajectory on line according to the sensor information and the reaction of the patients. Then, the cooperative robot tracks the adjusted planned-trajectory based on the impedance control method and ensure that the contact force of sampling is maintained within a reasonable range. The simulation results show that the proposed human-robot collaborative strategy is effective taking the advantages of both medical practitioners and robots which can deal with the trajectory tracking problem caused by the inaccurate sampling of patients.