  Medical applications of robots are increasingly popular to objectivise and
speed up the execution of several types of diagnostic and therapeutic
interventions. Particularly important is a class of diagnostic activities that
require physical contact between the robotic tool and the human body, such as
palpation examinations and ultrasound scans. The practical application of these
techniques can greatly benefit from an accurate estimation of the biomechanical
properties of the patient's tissues. In this paper, we evaluate the accuracy
and precision of a robotic device used for medical purposes in estimating the
elastic parameters of different materials. The measurements are evaluated
against a ground truth consisting of a set of expanded foam specimens with
different elasticity that are characterised using a high-precision device. The
experimental results in terms of precision are comparable with the ground truth
and suggest future ambitious developments.
