Abstract
Conventional colonoscopy can cause critical damage such as bleeding and perforation and its safe execution depends on the skill of the operator. Therefore, robotic colonoscopes with efficient locomotion have been investigated for overcoming the limitations of conventional colonoscopy. We present a hammering-based robotic colonoscope utilizing an expandable braided mesh. The robot moves along the colon lumen with a hammering procedure using a piston and secures the proper route using a soft braided mesh. The braided mesh expands through a triggering mechanism with one-directional rotation of a DC motor located outside of the body. To evaluate the locomotion performance, theoretical analysis is conducted taking into account the weight of the robot components. Based on the results, an in-vitro test with a urethane tube and an ex-vivo test using an extracted porcine colon were carried out. In the ex-vivo test, the robot achieves high mobile performance reaching the speed of 3.105 mm/sec in a straight path. Additionally, the locomotion test for the paths with the incline angles of 30° and 45° considering the real colon conditions was carried out and it was found that the proposed robot showed proper locomotion using a soft braided mesh. Thus, the hammering-based locomotion mechanism with an expandable mesh achieves promising mobile performance without any damage of the porcine colon.
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