  Purpose: Conventional robotic ultrasound systems were utilized with patients
in supine positions. Meanwhile, the limitation of the systems is that it is
difficult to evacuate the patients in case of emergency (e.g., patient
discomfort and system failure) because the patients are restricted between the
robot system and bed. Then, it is ideal that the patient undergoes the
examination in the sitting position in terms of safety. Therefore, we validated
a feasibility study of seated-style echocardiography using a robot. Method:
Preliminary experiments were conducted to verify the following two points: (1)
the possibility of obtaining cardiac disease features in the sitting posture as
well as in the conventional examination, and (2) the relationship between
posture angle and physical burden. For reducing the physical burden, two unique
mechanisms were incorporated into the system: (1) a leg pendulum base mechanism
to reduce the load on the legs when the lateral bending angle increases, and
(2) a roll angle division by a lumbar lateral bending and thoracic rotation
mechanisms. Results: Preliminary results demonstrated that adjusting the
diagnostic posture angle enabled us to obtain the views, including cardiac
disease features, as in the conventional examination. The results showed that
the body burden increased as the posture's lateral bending angle increased. The
results also demonstrated that the body load reduction mechanism incorporated
in the results could reduce the physical load in the seated echocardiography.
Conclusion: These results showed the potential of the seated-style
echocardiography robot.
