An Automatic Implementation of Oropharyngeal Swab Sampling for Diagnosing Respiratory Infectious Diseases via Soft Robotic End-Effectors  

作　　者：Yafeng Cui Wenjie Yu Jingjing Li Qi Shao Ding Weng Guoping Yin Xiaohao Zhang Xinjun Liu Jingying Ye Jiadao Wang Huichan Zhao 

机构地区：[1]Department of Mechanical Engineering,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084,China [2]Beijing Huakang Tongbang Technology Company,Beijing 102609,China [3]Department of Otorhinolaryngology,Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital,School of Clinical Medicine,Tsinghua University,Beijing 102218,China [4]Tianjin Research Institute for Advanced Equipment,Tsinghua University,Tianjin 300300,China

出　　处：《Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering》2024年第2期55-67,共13页中国机械工程学报（英文版）

基　　金：Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52222502,92048302,and 51975306);Research Project of State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration of China(Grant No.MSV201904);Emergency Research Project for COVID-19 from Institute for Precision Medicine of Tsinghua University of China.

摘　　要：The most widely adopted method for diagnosing respiratory infectious diseases is to conduct polymerase chain reaction(PCR)assays on patients’respiratory specimens,which are collected through either nasal or oropharyngeal swabs.The manual swab sampling process poses a high risk to the examiner and may cause false-negative results owing to improper sampling.In this paper,we propose a pneumatically actuated soft end-effector specifically designed to achieve all of the tasks involved in swab sampling.The soft end-effector utilizes circumferential instability to ensure grasping stability,and exhibits several key properties,including high load-to-weight ratio,error tolerance,and variable swab-tip stiffness,leading to successful automatic robotic oropharyngeal swab sampling,from loosening and tightening the transport medium tube cap,holding the swab,and conducting sampling,to snapping off the swab tail and sterilizing itself.Using an industrial collaborative robotic arm,we integrated the soft end-effector,force sensor,camera,lights,and remote-control stick,and developed a robotic oropharyngeal swab sampling system.Using this swab sampling system,we conducted oropharyngeal swab-sampling tests on 20 volunteers.Our Digital PCR assay results(RNase P RNA gene absolute copy numbers for the samples)revealed that our system successfully collected sufficient numbers of cells from the pharyngeal wall for respiratory disease diagnosis.In summary,we have developed a pharyngeal swab-sampling system based on an“enveloping”soft actuator,studied the sampling process,and imple-mented whole-process robotic oropharyngeal swab-sampling.

关 键 词：Diagnosis Medical robot Soft end-effector Swab-sampling Digital PCR 

分 类 号：R318.6[医药卫生—生物医学工程] TP242[医药卫生—基础医学]