Abstract
Abstract In this work, we present the conceptual design of a 3.5mm outside diameter cable-driven hyper-redundant robotic manipulator with an attached micro-force sensor at the tip for application in transurethral palpation of any targeted area of the bladder interior wall tissue. The stain-gauge based micro-force sensor is designed using finite element analysis (safety factor > 3.5 and load capacity of 0.8N) and subsequently prototyped using additive manufacturing. Sensor components were prototyped using additive and traditional manufacturing, assembled and characterized using a data acquisition environment. The performance of the finite element and prototyped sensor was almost identical. The characterized sensor was used to evaluate tissue properties. The concept of a hyper-redundant 10-joint 6-DOF manipulator comprising of a 5-DOF rigid and a 5-DOF continuum segment is presented along with the forward and inverse kinematics analyses. The inverse kinematics is performed using a Jacobian based formulation to limit the possibilities of singularities. Studies employing the proposed inverse kinematics analysis demonstrated the ability of the manipulator to engage with any area in the bladder and especially the difficult to reach trigone area while attaining a normal pose at the point of contact. A normal pose is required for properly interrogating the tissue with the uniaxial force sensor. The proposed manipulator and force sensor system as presented suggest a probable solution for quantitatively evaluating localized biomechanical properties of the bladder interior wall tissue as a means towards improving treatment and providing better patient care. An initial limited functionality prototype demonstrates capabilities of the proposed concept and provides confidence for further research to fully realize the proposed concept.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call