A Kinect-based automatic ultrasound scanning system

Now in hospitals, most of the sonography examinations are performed by doctors manually. Numerous patients are to be examined, doctors suffer from hard work. In this paper, a Kinect-based automatic ultrasound scanning system is presented. Depth data of the tissue surface is acquired by Kinect and transformed to 3D translating device coordinate system, scan path is automatically planned, then 3D translating device controls an ultrasound probe to scan the tissue automatically, probe's positions and corresponding B-scans are recorded for volume reconstruction. Force sensor is adopted for force measurement and stop the scanning process in case of emergency. Phantom and in vivo experiments are conducted, and the experimental results show that this system is available for automatic ultrasound scanning and 3D reconstruction.