Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2021 Nov;2021:4757-4760. doi: 10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630889.
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused the mortality worldwide and the use of swab sampling is a common way of screening and diagnosis. To combat respiratory infectious diseases and assist sampling, robots have been utilized and shown promising potentials. Nonetheless, a safe, patient-friendly, and low-cost swabbing system would be crucial for the practical implementation of robots in hospitals or inspection stations. In this study, we proposed two recyclable and cost-efficient end-effector designs that can be equipped at the distal end of a robot to passively regulate or actively sense the force exerted onto patients. One way is to introduce passive compliant mechanisms with soft material to increase the flexibility of the swabbing system, while the other way is utilizing a force-sensing gripper with embedded optoelectronic sensors to actively sense the force or torque. The proposed designs were modelled computationally and tested experimentally. It is identified that the passive compliant mechanisms can increase the flexibility of the swabbing system when subjected to the lateral force and mitigate the vertical force resulted from buckling. The lateral force range that the force-sensing gripper can detect is 0-0.35 N and the vertical force range causing buckling effect that can be sensed by gripper is 1.5-2.5 N.
新冠疫情在全球范围内造成了大量死亡，拭子采样是一种常见的筛查和诊断方法。为了应对呼吸道传染病并辅助采样，机器人已被应用，并显示出了巨大的潜力。然而，对于机器人在医院或检测站的实际应用，安全、患者友好且低成本的拭子采样系统至关重要。在本研究中，我们提出了两种可回收且经济高效的末端执行器设计，可以安装在机器人的远端，以被动调节或主动感知施加到患者身上的力。一种方法是引入具有软材料的被动柔顺机构来增加拭子系统的灵活性，另一种方法是利用带有嵌入式光电传感器的力感夹爪来主动感知力或扭矩。提出的设计进行了计算机建模和实验测试。结果表明，当受到侧向力时，被动柔顺机构可以增加拭子系统的灵活性，并减轻由于屈曲产生的垂直力。力感夹爪可以检测到的侧向力范围为 0-0.35 N，而可以被夹爪感知到的导致屈曲效应的垂直力范围为 1.5-2.5 N。
