Design analysis and bending modeling of a flexible robot for endoscope steering

Abstract

Robot assisted endoscopic system with navigation functionalities is emerging as a pivotal role for improving the clinician's performance in minimally-invasive surgeries, particularly through natural orifices or single incision. This article investigates a new sleeve robot design that is able to achieve flexible bending manoeuvrability to the endoscope, which is to be used surgically in the tight and irregular spaces within the human body. It is based on the concept of the distal dexterity unit and we are using multiple spring support units instead of backbones. The characteristics of a spring are exploited in this design to provide more orientations and positioning of the end-effector with increased manoeuvrability and without involving manual reconfiguration of the shape of the instrument. Design analysis and bending motion model are investigated during the system development. The finished prototype of the robotic system is able to achieve five degree of freedoms through the actuation of the proposed method. The proposed system is validated by prototype development and experiments.