Research Status and Key Technology Analysis of Intelligent Massage Collaborative Robots for TCM Acupoint

Research indicates that acupoint massage in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can effectively unblock meridians, alleviate pain, and treat diseases. In recent years, China has witnessed a continuous increase in patients with chronic pain and related disorders, leading to rapidly growing demand for acupoint massage as an effective non-pharmacological therapy. Consequently, challenges such as therapist shortages, excessive labor intensity, and rising human resource costs have emerged, which remain difficult to resolve in the short term. This urgent situation necessitates the development of robotic technologies specialized for acupoint massage to replace manual operations and promote the advancement of high-end, intelligent medical rehabilitation robots. This paper focuses on the application research of robots integrating multi-sensor systems, actuators, and intelligent perception technologies combined with machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) in TCM healthcare. From the perspective of intelligent acupoint massage implementation, it conducts an in-depth analysis of three key research areas: vision-based acupoint recognition and positioning methods, massage trajectory planning with contact force control, and structural design of massage devices. The study elaborates on innovative research achievements including 2D image recognition of acupoints, 3D point cloud reconstruction, acupoint feature extraction and localization, robot trajectory planning for massage operations, active massage contact force control methods, and breakthrough developments in massage device design. Finally, building upon current research progress, the paper summarizes and forecasts development trends for intelligent collaborative robots in acupoint massage applications.