A dual‐bending endoscope with shape‐lockable hydraulic actuation and water‐jet propulsion for gastrointestinal tract screening

Abstract

Background Traditional flexible endoscopes are sophisticated medical devices that require frequent and expensive maintenance. Therefore, their implementation within low‐income and rural regions is challenging due to their high cost, complex sterilization process and poor portability. Aims This paper aims to develop an endoscopic platform that is low‐cost, disposable and portable, with the primary goal of reducing gastric cancer‐related mortality among low‐ and middle‐income communities through wider access to regular screening programs. Materials and Methods The endoscope employs a custom microvalve to switch between hydraulic actuation of a spatial bending fluidic actuator and water‐jet actuation. Three alloy wires with buckle attachments are connected to a pneumatic balloon which facilitates reversible shape‐locking of the actuator, and thus supports stable scanning by water‐jet actuation. Distal tip of the device has an internal charge‐coupled device camera for inspection. Results Experiments demonstrated a 58% increase in the workspace after introduction of the water‐jet and more than three times the load‐locking ability variation. Phantom experiment was also conducted for performance comparison with a traditional endoscope. Conclusion By controlling the pressure of supplied water and the inflation of locking balloon, the endoscope achieves a satisfactory workspace and a remarkable shape‐locking ability, demonstrating its potential clinical value in improving the prospects for upper gastrointestinal tract disease screening, especially gastric cancer.

Evolutionary Inverse Material Identification: Bespoke Characterization of Soft Materials Using a Metaheuristic Algorithm

“…Furthermore, they often represent simpler fabrication and assembly with respect to rigid robots with joints; being molded in monolithic material designs (Chandler et al, 2020), with embedded strain limiting materials (Mosadegh et al, 2014;Polygerinos et al, 2015) or with the addition of functional components (e.g., magnetic particles) (Kim et al, 2019;Lloyd et al, 2019). These advantages are afforded due to the highly compliant nature of the materials from which they are typically made, and have made soft robots (SRs) a popular choice for small-scale medical and surgical instrumentation (Cianchetti et al, 2014(Cianchetti et al, , 2018da Veiga et al, 2020); from common grasping tasks (Zhang et al, 2017b), endoscopic (Chauhan et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2021) and minimally invasive surgery (Edelmann et al, 2017;Oliver-Butler et al, 2017;Jeon et al, 2019) to microfluidic platforms in order to stimulate and sort cells (Zhang et al, 2017c;Onaizah et al, 2020).…”

Magnetic Actuation Systems and Magnetic Robots for Gastrointestinal Examination and Treatment

“…Due to the small cross-section of the robot, the high pressure in the transmission tube may pose a safety problem Intervention is relatively strong [9][10][11] Electromechanical Power supply limits robots' long-distance inspection [12][13][14][15] Hybrid The complexity of the internal actuation mechanism leads to cumbersome design and prevents significant cost reduction [16][17] There are two types of magnetic field generation: permanent magnets and electromagnetics. The earliest medical use of permanent magnets for remote manipulation was the removal of metal fragments and shrapnel from human body parts.…”

“…Different actuation methods and power sources have been studied for this purpose, for example, pneumatic or hydraulic [9][10][11] , electromechanical [12][13][14][15] , hybrid [16][17] , and magnetic methods [18][19] . However, compared to magnetic actuation (Tab.…”

Actuators for Implantable Devices: A Broad View

“… Actuators for endoscopes. ( a ), schematic illustration of the fluid line in a wired endoscope kit [ 110 ]; ( b ), an endoscope equipped with soft pop-up arms [ 44 , 48 ]; ( c ), pneumatically inflated actuation of intracranial endoscope [ 92 ]; ( d ), a magnetic soft vacuum sucker to remove surgery patch in stomach [ 106 ]; ( e ), X-ray navigation of magnetic actuators under skin [ 102 ]. All images are reproduced or adapted with permission.…”