{"id":9165,"date":"2018-07-05T09:27:30","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T03:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/18.218.32.224\/?p=9165"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:27:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T03:57:30","slug":"robotic-testing-healthcare-touchscreens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sastrarobotics.com\/robotic-testing-healthcare-touchscreens\/","title":{"rendered":"Why robotic testing is critical in the performance of healthcare touchscreens?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Currently, the focus in the healthcare industry is more towards the patient than the physician. Healthcare companies are striving towards providing efficient and accurate solutions to enhance levels of patient care. This is enabled with the advancement of robotics in medicine and healthcare products. Robotic testing in healthcare products\u2019 touchscreens plays an important role, behind the scene, in ensuring their reliability and durability.<\/p>\n

The term touch screen (HMI) panel refers to screens that can be sensed by the touch of a finger or stylus and provides a textual or graphical view of system conditions and operations<\/span>. Healthcare touch screens thus are the interface between the user\/patient (input) and the display (output)
\nToday, in almost all healthcare products and medical applications, touch screen solutions are used like a\u00a0point of care, mobile medical carts, doctor\u2019s offices, hospitals, laboratories, clinics, nursing homes, retirement homes, assisted living centres and many other healthcare environments. The ability of doctors and nurses to react quickly can sometimes mean the difference between life and death<\/p>\n

Some typical touch-panel sensing methods are discussed below.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Resistive film touch panels<\/h2>\n

The most widely used touch panels are based on this method and are called pressure-sensitive or analogue-resistive film touch panels.<\/p>\n

Capacitive touch panels<\/h2>\n

Capacitive touch panels represent the second most widely used sensing method after resistive film touch panels.<\/p>\n

Two types of touch panels use this method:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

a) Surface capacitive touch panels<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Surface capacitive touch panels are often used in relatively large panels<\/p>\n

b) Projected capacitive touch panels<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Projected capacitive touch panels are often used for smaller screen sizes than surface capacitive touch panels.<\/p>\n

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) touch panels<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) touch panels were developed mainly to achieve bright touch panels with high levels of visibility.<\/p>\n

Optical touch panels (infrared optical imaging touch panels)<\/h4>\n

These touch panels based on infrared image sensors to sense and are used among larger panels.<\/p>\n

Electromagnetic induction touch panels<\/h4>\n

This type differs somewhat from the above touch panels since only a special-purpose stylus can be used Using a finger or a general-purpose stylus is not possible.<\/p>\n

Advantages of touch screens<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Easy to Clean<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For healthcare gadgets\/products incorporating touch screens keeping a clean, sterile environment is of critical importance All touch screen products are designed with an easy to clean surface and anti-microbial materials<\/p>\n

High Tolerance to Chemicals<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When treating patients, it is common to use chemicals and potent solutions. To improve efficiency, HMI systems can be operated with the touch of a finger, stylus, or latex glove.<\/p>\n

Portable and Lightweight<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of the greatest features of touch screen systems is their portability and ease of operation. Thin, lightweight, and ergonomic with the intention of enhancing user experience. No matter the function, each system is designed with clear, universal, and easy to understand symbols for efficient use.<\/p>\n

Improved Communication<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Touch screens can drastically improve communication in medical environments. Medical professionals can communicate faster and more efficiently to ensure patients get the help they need.<\/p>\n

Common Applications for touch screens in healthcare products are:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Patient monitoring systems<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Kidney dialysis machines<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Hospital beds<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Infusion pumps<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Diabetes monitoring equipment<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Cardiac defibrillators<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Surgical equipment<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Staff communication devices<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Ambulance switch panel<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Industrial touch-screen monitor<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The effectiveness of the health care touchscreen depends upon enabling successful use by physician, technician and patient.<\/p>\n

    Moreover, their characteristics differ greatly depending on the methods used to sense touch inputs like finger touch, glove touch, stylus touch etc.
    \nMedical touchscreen panels and associated buttons require a wide range of testing including display visibility, precision in position sensing, rapid response to input, durability, resilience etc. Tension and compression test and leakage test are very important for touch screens.<\/p>\n

    SR-Dimenzio-MG<\/a> and SR-Dimenzio Mini<\/a> are lightweight SCARA robots customized for the automated testing of HMI devices like touch screens, control panels, UI, etc. It will be evident from the following healthcare applications, as to how crucial and critical is the role of testing of medical touch screens.<\/p>\n