Funicular Flexible Crawler for Colonoscopy
Funicular Flexible Crawler for Colonoscopy
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DOI：
10.1109/tmrb.2019.2895800
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发表时间：
2019-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Saga, Norihiko
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Nagase, Jun-Ya;Fukunaga, Fumika;Saga, Norihiko
患大肠癌的人数一直在稳步增加。根据全球癌症观察站的数据，在过去五年的世界统计中，其患病率在所有癌症类型中排名第二。通过结肠镜检查早期发现和治疗疾病可以使患者完全康复。然而，传统的结肠镜需要使用它们的医生的极高技能。此外，它们在结肠中的侵袭性很高。因此，最近已经开发了许多机器人来促进结肠镜相关操作。不幸的是，不存在可以真正克服传统结肠镜所提供的经证实的有效性和较低成本的实用系统。因此，我们提出了一种新的自主推进机制，结肠镜检查命名为“索柔性爬行器。“它适合通过狭窄的空间推进，因为它是由连接到柔性轴的多个小直径履带单元驱动的。用大肠模型进行的实验证实了柔性爬行器可以从直肠运行到盲肠。如本文所述，该推进机构适用于自行进结肠镜检查。
The number of people with cancer of the large intestine has been increasing steadily. According to the global cancer observatory, its prevalence is second among all cancer types in world statistics over the past five years. Early detection and treatment of diseases by colonoscopy can enable complete recovery. Nevertheless, conventional colonoscopes require extremely high skill of the doctors who use them. Moreover, their invasiveness in the colon is high. Therefore, many robots to facilitate colonoscope-related operations have been developed recently. Unfortunately, no practical system exists which can truly overcome the proven effectiveness and lower costs presented by conventional colonoscopes. We therefore propose a novel autonomous propulsion mechanism for colonoscopy named the "Funicular Flexible Crawler." It is suitable for propulsion through narrow spaces because it is driven by multiple small diameter crawler units connected to a flexible shaft. Experimentation with a large intestine phantom confirmed that the flexible crawler can run from the rectum to the cecum. As described herein, this propulsion mechanism is applicable for self-traveling colonoscopy.