Tele-Operated Oropharyngeal Swab (TOOS) Robot Enabled by TSS Soft Hand for Safe and Effective Sampling

Wei Chen, Jianshu Zhou, Shing Shin Cheng, Yiang Lu, Fangxun Zhong, Yuan Gao, Yaqing Wang, Lingbin Xue, Michael C. F. Tong, Yun-Hui Liu

IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, 2021

Paper · DOI

Tele-Operated Oropharyngeal Swab (TOOS) Robot Enabled by TSS Soft Hand for Safe and Effective Sampling

Abstract

This paper presents a tele-operated oropharyngeal swab (TOOS) robot designed for safe and effective COVID‑19 sampling. The system integrates a TSS soft robotic hand with a teleoperation framework to enable compliant and precise swab manipulation in the oropharyngeal region. By combining soft robotic grasping, force sensing, and real-time teleoperation, the TOOS robot significantly reduces cross‑infection risk to healthcare workers while maintaining reliable sampling performance.

Main Contributions

Tele-operated robotic system for safe oropharyngeal swab sampling
Integration of TSS soft hand for compliant and safe interaction
Experimental validation in medical and clinical scenarios

Citation

@ARTICLE{9590555,
  author  = {Chen, Wei and Zhou, Jianshu and Cheng, Shing Shin and Lu, Yiang and
             Zhong, Fangxun and Gao, Yuan and Wang, Yaqing and Xue, Lingbin and
             Tong, Michael C. F. and Liu, Yun-Hui},
  title   = {Tele-Operated Oropharyngeal Swab (TOOS) Robot Enabled by TSS Soft Hand
             for Safe and Effective Sampling},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics},
  volume  = {3},
  number  = {4},
  pages   = {1040--1053},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.1109/TMRB.2021.3123530}
}