Early detection has a significant impact on extending breast cancer survival and improving quality of life. Young women (35 years) with breast cancer account for 7% of all breast cancers. Diagnostic delays are common and they present often at an advanced stage, with more aggressive and less responsive disease to hormonal therapy. They experience a poor outcome when compared to cancers of older patients. Screening mammography is not recommended due to the associated X-ray dose, with ultrasound being the first line examination, hampered by a high false positive rate. Hence, there is an unmet clinical need for early detection of breast cancer in young women, where 80% of all breast cancers present with a palpable lump. Equally, high-risk women (~6% of UK 40-73 year olds) may benefit from a safe, convenient, active surveillance of breast health programme for early cancer detection.

We propose a complementary approach for detecting the earliest stages of breast cancer in a paradigm shift combining a robotic device for smart sensing, imaging and palpation. The project consists of four parallel work packages

• WP1 – User Requirements Specification

• WP2 – Breast Phantom Model and Data Collection

• WP3 – Design and Development of Soft Robotic Palpation Platform

• WP4 – Implementation of Expert Knowledge Transfer (EKT)•

The ARTEMIS robotic platform will deliver palpation for detection of abnormalities through actuation and sensing, capturing and storing breast compliance and imaging maps. Palpation techniques will be informed by machine learning (e.g. reinforcement learning, learning by demonstration) applied to data derived from a sensorised breast phantom during use by clinical experts.