Autonomous robotic alignment enables remote, telehealth OCT, and OCTA retinal imaging

Unlike conventional ophthalmic OCT, robotically aligning OCT (RAOCT) removes the requirement for close patient/operator proximity and enables remote patient imaging by autonomously aligning itself to the patient while the operator is physically elsewhere. We report kilometer-scale distance between OCT operator and patient and the first robotically aligned OCT angiography images. We acquired remote volumetric RAOCT retinal images from healthy and diseased eyes at the Duke Eye Center on both room-to-room (10m between imager and subject) and between clinic sites(>10km between imager and subject). This can serve as a foundation for socially distanced or telehealth retinal OCT without physically present technicians.