Enabling the future of colonoscopy with intelligent and autonomous magnetic manipulation

Abstract

Early diagnosis of colorectal cancer substantially improves survival. However, over half of cases are diagnosed late due to the demand for colonoscopy-the 'gold standard' for screening-exceeding capacity. Colonoscopy is limited by the outdated design of conventional endoscopes, which are associated with high complexity of use, cost and pain. Magnetic endoscopes are a promising alternative and overcome the drawbacks of pain and cost, but they struggle to reach the translational stage as magnetic manipulation is complex and unintuitive. In this work, we use machine vision to develop intelligent and autonomous control of a magnetic endoscope, enabling non-expert users to effectively perform magnetic colonoscopy in vivo. We combine the use of robotics, computer vision and advanced control to offer an intuitive and effective endoscopic system. Moreover, we define the characteristics required to achieve autonomy in robotic endoscopy. The paradigm described here can be adopted in a variety of applications where navigation in unstructured environments is required, such as catheters, pancreatic endoscopy, bronchoscopy and gastroscopy. This work brings alternative endoscopic technologies closer to the translational stage, increasing the availability of early-stage cancer treatments.

Raman microspectroscopy and Raman imaging reveal biomarkers specific for thoracic aortic aneurysms

“… 66 The field of endoscopy is rapidly evolving, as the first robotic magnetic flexible endoscope systems are now available. 67 Therefore, fiberoptic Raman endoscopy for the aorta has the potential as a research tool as well as in a clinical setting. Furthermore, a combination of Raman measurements and artificial intelligence to identify molecular tissue patterns specific to (pre-)aneurysm will be a robust tool for modeling and monitoring the risk for aneurysm rupture/dissection.…”

Bioinspired Ultrathin Piecewise Controllable Soft Robots

“…Intelligent robots are gradually playing crucial roles in the engineering and medical fields. [ 1–4 ] Inspired by natural creatures, bionics research on robots has attracted great of attentions as which could make robots more intelligent. [ 5 ] The trend of developing bioinspired robots tends to be exploring materials and devices to act as “soft bodies” or “soft organs” in robots for realizing advanced mechanical attributes, great environmental adaptability and sophisticated applications.…”

Endorobots for Colonoscopy: Design Challenges and Available Technologies

“…To improve the locomotion force and dexterity, a wireless capsule has integrated the magnetic field with an on-board DC motor connected to a screw mechanism (Wang et al, 2010). Algorithms for an autonomous lumen detection for an autonomous navigation have been developed and validated (Martin et al, 2020) (Figure 1I). (Karimyan et al, 2009), (C) ColonoSight (Sightline Technologies Ltd. Haifa, Israel) (Shike et al, 2008), (D) Invendo Medical GmbH (Kurniawan and Keuchel 2017), (E) Endotics ® System from Era Endoscopy (Cosentino et al, 2011).…”

“…FIGURE 1 | Internal actuators: with wheels (A, B)(Karargyris and Koulaouzidis 2015;Norton et al, 2016), (C) legs(Valdastri and Webster, 2009), propellers (D, E)(Liang et al, 2011;Falco et al, 2014), small inchworm locomotion capsule (F) (Alcaide, Pearson, and Rentschler 2017), (G) a Soft Pneumatic Inchworm Double-balloon (SPID); Wireless locomotion: Endoo Project (H)(Ciuti et al, 2020) autonomous navigation (I)(Martin et al, 2020).…”