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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Robot Design
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2025.1580692
Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Track-Based Robotic Colonoscope with a shape-adaptable tip for Propulsion
Provisionally accepted- The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
This paper introduces a shape-adaptable robotic endoscope design, which combines an expansion mechanism and external drive system that provide tip insertion force and adjust the tip shape and size to different colon diameters. Expansion rate of 53% has been achieved in the expandable tip size, which corresponds to changes in the colon diameter. We tested the prototype locomotion in a pipe with different friction surface layers, including artificial bowel tissues, to assess propulsion force and normal force on the colon that can be achieved with the current design. The prototype can generate a propulsion force of 2.83 N, and the maximum linear speed is 29.29 mm/s on the artificial tissue surface. It can produce effective propulsion when it passes through pipes of different diameters. The results demonstrate the prototype's ability for shape adaptation that maintains the required traction force with the bowel wall.
Keywords: Robotic Endoscope, Expansion mechanism, Track-based, Colonoscopy, Selfpropelling
Received: 20 Feb 2025; Accepted: 02 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Du, CAO and Dogramadzi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jiayang Du, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
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