A Wireless Robotic Endoscope for Gastrointestine

Abstract

In recent years, an intelligent noninvasive endoscope has been felt necessary for early diagnosis of malignant tumor in gastrointestine (GI). It is our purpose to develop a microwireless robotic endoscope to examine the human GI. The presented robot's diameter and length is 10 and 190 mm, respectively. A locomotion principle based on biomimetic earthworm is adopted for a higher adaptability to the GI. The robot is composed of three linear driving cells. A micromotor, a reducer, and a microscrew pair mechanism are integrated into each cell. Multijoints are used to connect every two driving cells for robot's high flexibility. The robot's energy is continuously supplied in real time by an energy transmitting system based on electromagnetic coupling. Experiments on the energy transmission and locomotion are performed to test the power transferring volume and locomotion effect in GI. The experiments indicate that the minimum received power, 400 mW, is obtained in a cylindrical space with 200 mm diameter and 200 mm length. In vitro experiments in a pig intestine indicate that this robot can move forward or backward effectively. This paper provides a good prototype for the deeper research on locomotion theory and energy transferring technology in vivo in future.