Robot-Controlled Acupuncture—An Innovative Step towards Modernization of the Ancient Traditional Medical Treatment Method
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Acupuncture Point Localization
- (1)
- Symptom input: The user interacts with a chatbot on the smartphone to describe her/his symptoms.
- (2)
- Database search: According to the symptom described by the user, a TCM database is searched and symptom-related acupuncture points are retrieved.
- (3)
- Acupoint visualization: Symptom-related acupoints are visualized in an image of the human body.
2.1. Image-Based Acupoint Localization
- (i)
- The differences of face shape between different people are not considered
- (ii)
- A conversion of pixel to cun, based on the frontal face, cannot be directly applied to locating acupoints on the side of the face.
2.2. Landmark Detection
2.3. Image Deformation
2.4. 3D Morphable Model (3DMM)
2.5. Face Detection (FD) and Tracking
2.6. Method—Acupuncture Point Localization
2.6.1. 3D Morphable Model
2.6.2. Acupoint Annotation
2.6.3. 3D Acupuncture Model
2.6.4. Face Detection and Tracking
2.6.5. Landmark Detection
2.6.6. Fitting 3DMM
2.6.7. Acupoint Projection
2.6.8. Acupoint Estimation
2.6.9. Acupoint Visualization
3. Automated Acupoint Stimulation
3.1. Hand-Eye Calibration
3.2. Transformation Matrix Calculation
4. Automated Detection of Deqi Event
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Method | Angle-aware | Shape-aware | Reference Model | Estimation | Limitation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chang et al. [2] | No | No | 2D | Using cun measurement system by first converting pixel into cun | 1) Assuming that the hairline is not covered with hair 2) Does not work for side face |
Jiang et al. [3] | Partially | No | 2D | Scaling of the reference model | 1) The scaling factor is based on the bounding box ratio returned by the edge detector, which can be unreliable 2) Does not work for side face |
Proposed system | Yes | Yes | 3D | 3DMM, weighted deformation, landmarks | Need landmark points |
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Lan, K.-C.; Litscher, G. Robot-Controlled Acupuncture—An Innovative Step towards Modernization of the Ancient Traditional Medical Treatment Method. Medicines 2019, 6, 87. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines6030087
Lan K-C, Litscher G. Robot-Controlled Acupuncture—An Innovative Step towards Modernization of the Ancient Traditional Medical Treatment Method. Medicines. 2019; 6(3):87. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines6030087
Chicago/Turabian StyleLan, Kun-Chan, and Gerhard Litscher. 2019. "Robot-Controlled Acupuncture—An Innovative Step towards Modernization of the Ancient Traditional Medical Treatment Method" Medicines 6, no. 3: 87. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines6030087