Abstract
The design of a smart robot for colonoscopy is challenging because of the limited available space, slippery internal surfaces, and tortuous 3D shape of the human colon. Locomotion forces applied by an endoscopic robot may damage the colonic wall and/or cause pain and discomfort to patients. This study reports a Soft Pneumatic Inchworm Double balloon (SPID) mini-robot for colonoscopy consisting of two balloons connected by a 3 degrees of freedom soft pneumatic actuator. SPID has an external diameter of 18 mm, a total length of 60 mm, and weighs 10 g. The balloons provide anchorage into the colonic wall for a bio-inspired inchworm locomotion. The proposed design reduces the pressure applied to the colonic wall and consequently pain and discomfort during the procedure. The mini-robot has been tested in a deformable plastic colon phantom of similar shape and dimensions to the human anatomy, exhibiting efficient locomotion by its ability to deform and negotiate flexures and bends. The mini-robot is made of elastomer and constructed from 3D printed components, hence with low production costs essential for a disposable device.
Highlights
The design of a smart robot for colonoscopy is challenging because of the limited available space, slippery internal surfaces, and tortuous 3D shape of the human colon
The advantage in using a mini-robot to carry out a colonoscopy is that once inserted through the anus, the device will travel by its intrinsic locomotion capability to the caecum virtually abolishing pain and discomfort, as it avoids pressure on the colonic wall and mesenteric tending by loop formation
The two balloons proposed in Soft Pneumatic Inchworm Double balloon (SPID) design are made from Ecoflex 00–30 (Smooth-on-Inc., PA, USA) and can be activated with a low air pressure ensuring low pressure exerted on the colonic wall
Summary
The design of a smart robot for colonoscopy is challenging because of the limited available space, slippery internal surfaces, and tortuous 3D shape of the human colon. This pushing force is required to introduce and navigate the colonoscope inside of the lumen of the colon to reach the caecum (top expanded section) During this procedure, the long and passive tube is pushed against the colonic wall, inducing pain and discomfort for the patient[7,8]. The more conventional approach to design robots for colonoscopy is essentially by construction of components made of rigid miniaturized mechanical parts[12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19], which may require expensive high precision machining This will drastically reduce the health care costs compared to the traditional optical colonoscopy and the overall acceptability by patients
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