Zero-touch laryngoscopy: a six-DOF robotic platform for remote ENT examination

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Medical Devices
• Otolaryngology

Background:

• Remote examinations are crucial for reducing infection transmission.
• Current ENT examination methods can be invasive and require close patient contact.
• Developing safe and efficient remote examination tools is a priority in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a novel six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) master-slave robotic system for remote, contact-free ear, nose, and throat (ENT) examinations.
• To assess the system's safety, efficiency, and impact on user workload.
• To determine the system's potential for reducing the skill barrier for novice users.

Main Methods:

• A 6-DOF master-slave robotic system featuring a three-axis Cartesian stage and a three-axis spherical wrist was designed for precise, non-contact laryngoscopy.
• Six participants (3 experts, 3 novices) performed 8 phantom and 8 in-vivo trials each.
• Task-completion time and subjective workload (NASA-TLX) were primary outcomes, analyzed using mixed-effects ANOVA.

Main Results:

• Experts completed in-vivo tasks significantly faster (300s) than novices (481s) (p < 0.001).
• Phantom trials showed similar significant differences (experts: 125s; novices: 212s) (p < 0.001).
• Experts reported lower NASA-TLX scores (34) compared to novices (47) (p = 0.02), indicating reduced workload.

Conclusions:

• The novel 6-DOF robotic platform enables safe, efficient, and contact-free ENT inspection.
• The system effectively reduces the skill barrier, making it accessible for novice users.
• The ergonomic design and stable architecture support clinical deployment and medical training.