A Novel Robotic Meshworm With Segment-Bending Anchoring for Colonoscopy

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Novel Robotic Meshworm With Segment-Bending Anchoring for Colonoscopy

AU - Bernth, Julius E.

AU - Arezzo, Alberto

AU - Liu, Hongbin

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - This letter introduces the design and evaluation of a novel worm-inspired, multisegment robotic endoscope with multiple degrees of freedom segments. The novelty of this design is that the robot is able to drive forwards and backwards, anchor itself, steer while inside a tubular structure and control the orientation of an end-mounted camera all by bending its flexible segments. The mechanical design is shown and a sensing system based on Hall Effect sensors is incorporated. In a simulated colon, a top speed of 1.21 mm/s was achieved, equivalent to roughly 38% of the theoretical maximum. These results are discussed and further improvements are suggested, followed by general concluding remarks.

AB - This letter introduces the design and evaluation of a novel worm-inspired, multisegment robotic endoscope with multiple degrees of freedom segments. The novelty of this design is that the robot is able to drive forwards and backwards, anchor itself, steer while inside a tubular structure and control the orientation of an end-mounted camera all by bending its flexible segments. The mechanical design is shown and a sensing system based on Hall Effect sensors is incorporated. In a simulated colon, a top speed of 1.21 mm/s was achieved, equivalent to roughly 38% of the theoretical maximum. These results are discussed and further improvements are suggested, followed by general concluding remarks.

U2 - 10.1109/LRA.2017.2678540

DO - 10.1109/LRA.2017.2678540

M3 - Article

VL - 2

SP - 1718

EP - 1724

JO - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

IS - 3

ER -