Design and research of a pneumatic soft intestine robot imitating the inchworm_Journal of Biomedical Engineering

Authors：

HE Yongsheng ¹ ,  SUN Zhijun ¹ , YUAN Jie ² , WEI Congwen ¹ , HAN Guowei ¹ , CHU Xiaocheng ¹

1. State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, P. R. China;
2. Department of Gastroenterology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210006, P. R. China;

Corresponding author：

SUN Zhijun, Email: meezjsun@nuaa.edu.cn

Keywords：

Intestinal robot; Inchworm motion; Nonlinear expansion; Cylindrical rubber film

DOI：

10.7507/1001-5515.202409028

Video：

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In order to seek a patient friendly and low-cost intestinal examination method, a structurally simple pneumatic soft intestinal robot inspired by inchworms is designed and manufactured. The intestinal robot was consisted of two radially expanding cylindrical rubber film airbags for anchoring and one low density polyethylene film airbag for axial elongation, which achieved movement in the intestine by mimicking the crawling of inchworms. Theoretical derivation was conducted on the relationship between the internal air pressure of the anchored airbag and the free deformation size after expansion, and it pointed out that the uneven deformation of the airbag was a phenomenon of expansion instability caused by large deformation of the rubber material. The motion performance of the intestinal robot was validated in different sizes of hard tubes and ex vivo pig small intestine. The running speed in the ex vivo pig small intestine was 4.87 mm/s, with an anchoring force of 2.33 N when stationary, and could smoothly pass through a 90° bend. This work expects to provide patients with a new method of low pain and low-cost intestinal examination.

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15.	管清华, 孙健, 刘彦菊, 等. 气动软体机器人发展现状与趋势. 中国科学: 技术科学, 2020, 50(7): 897-934.
16.	李恭新, 王民栋, 朱亚洲, 等. 仿水蛭蠕动爬行软体机器人设计. 机器人, 2024, 46(2): 139-146.
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25.	Dario P, Ciarletta P, Menciassi A, et al. Modelling and experimental validation of the locomotion of endoscopic robots in the colon. Int J Rob Res, 2003, 23(4): 549-556.
26.	Ogden R W. Large deformation isotropic elasticity: on the correlation of theory and experiment for incompressible rubberlike solids. Proc R Soc Lond A, 1972, 328(1575): 567-583.
27.	Holzapfel G A. Nonlinear solid mechanics: A continuum approach for engineering. Graz: John Wiley & Sons, LTD, 2000: 235-242.
28.	Alexander H. Tensile instability of initially spherical balloons. Int J Eng Sci, 1971, 9(1): 151-160.
29.	Mao G, Li T, Zou Z, et al. Prestretch effect on snap-through instability of short-length tubular elastomeric balloons under inflation. Int J Solids Struct, 2014, 51(11-12): 2109-2115.
30.	Sang J, Xing S, Liu H, et al. Large deformation and stability analysis of a cylindrical rubber tube under internal pressure. J Theor App Mech-Pol, 2017, 55(1): 177-188.
31.	叶阳. 任意壁厚充气圆管屈曲与后屈曲分析. 天津: 天津大学, 2020.
32.	Egorov V I, Schastlivtsev I V, Prut E V, et al. Mechanical properties of the human gastrointestinal tract. J Biomech, 2002, 35(10): 1417-1425.

1. Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, et al. Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin, 2024, 74(3): 229-263.
2. 王海杰. 人体系统解剖学. 第3版. 上海: 复旦大学出版社, 2008: 90-91.
3. Yamamoto H, Sekine Y, Sato Y, et al. Total enteroscopy with a nonsurgical steerable double-balloon method. Gastrointest Endosc, 2001, 53(2): 216-220.
4. Iddan G, Meron G, Glukhovsky A, et al. Wireless capsule endoscopy. Nature, 2000, 405(6785): 417-417.
5. Chen W, Sui J, Wang C. Magnetically actuated capsule robots: A review. IEEE Access, 2022, 10: 88398-88420.
6. Liu L, Towfighian S, Hila A. A review of locomotion systems for capsule endoscopy. IEEE Rev Biomed Eng, 2015, 8: 138-151.
7. 周银生, 李立新, 赵东福. 一种新型的微型机器人. 机械工程学报, 2001, 37(1): 11-13.
8. De Falco I, Tortora G, Dario P, et al. An integrated system for wireless capsule endoscopy in a liquid-distended stomach. IEEE T Bio-Med Eng, 2013, 61(3): 794-804.
9. Valdastri P, Webster R J, Quaglia C, et al. A new mechanism for mesoscale legged locomotion in compliant tubular environments. IEEE T Robot, 2009, 25(5): 1047-1057.
10. 段联. IPMC驱动的主动式肠道机器人行走足及其驱动系统研制. 南京: 南京航空航天大学, 2013.
11. Chan J, Pan F T, Li Z. Design and motion control of biomimetic soft crawling robot for GI tract inspection// 2018 13th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation (WCICA). Changsha: IEEE, 2018: 1366-1369.
12. Woo S H, Yoon K W, Lee J H, et al. Design and implement the stimuli capsule at in-vitro experiment// TENCON 2005-2005 IEEE Region 10 Conference. Melbourne: IEEE, 2005: 1-4.
13. Yang J, Sun Z, Qian F, et al. A novel airbag aided differential-drive capsule robot towards colonoscopy// ICMD: International Conference on Mechanical Design. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2023: 2041-2054.
14. Blewitt G, Cheneler D, Andrew J, et al. A review of worm-like pipe inspection robots: research, trends and challenges. Soft Sci, 2024, 4(13): 1-26.
15. 管清华, 孙健, 刘彦菊, 等. 气动软体机器人发展现状与趋势. 中国科学: 技术科学, 2020, 50(7): 897-934.
16. 李恭新, 王民栋, 朱亚洲, 等. 仿水蛭蠕动爬行软体机器人设计. 机器人, 2024, 46(2): 139-146.
17. Alcaide J O, Pearson L, Rentschler M E. Design, modeling and control of a SMA-actuated biomimetic robot with novel functional skin// 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). Singapore: IEEE, 2017: 4338-4345.
18. Li Yingtian, Peine J, Mencattelli M, et al. A soft robotic balloon endoscope for airway procedures. Soft Robot, 2022, 9(5): 1014-1029.
19. Slatkin A B, Burdick J, Grundfest W. The development of a robotic endoscope// Proceedings 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots. Pittsburgh: IEEE, 1995: 162-171.
20. Manfredi L, Capoccia E, Ciuti G, et al. As oft pneumatic inchworm double balloon (SPID) for colonoscopy. Sci Rep, 2019, 9(1): 11109.
21. Li G, Qiu W, Wen H, et al. Development of an earthworm-based intestinal soft robot equipped with a gripper. Machines, 2022, 10(11): 1057.
22. Chen J, Yang J, Qian F, et al. A novel inchworm-inspired soft robotic colonoscope based on a rubber bellows. Micromachines, 2022, 13(4): 635.
23. Takamatsu T, Endo Y, Fukushima R, et al. Robotic endoscope with double-balloon and double-bend tube for colonoscopy. Sci Rep, 2023, 13(1): 10494.
24. 龚红霞, 朱炯, 殷焱, 等. 正常小肠的MSCT表现. 中国医学影像技术, 2009, 25(7): 1225-1228.
25. Dario P, Ciarletta P, Menciassi A, et al. Modelling and experimental validation of the locomotion of endoscopic robots in the colon. Int J Rob Res, 2003, 23(4): 549-556.
26. Ogden R W. Large deformation isotropic elasticity: on the correlation of theory and experiment for incompressible rubberlike solids. Proc R Soc Lond A, 1972, 328(1575): 567-583.
27. Holzapfel G A. Nonlinear solid mechanics: A continuum approach for engineering. Graz: John Wiley & Sons, LTD, 2000: 235-242.
28. Alexander H. Tensile instability of initially spherical balloons. Int J Eng Sci, 1971, 9(1): 151-160.
29. Mao G, Li T, Zou Z, et al. Prestretch effect on snap-through instability of short-length tubular elastomeric balloons under inflation. Int J Solids Struct, 2014, 51(11-12): 2109-2115.
30. Sang J, Xing S, Liu H, et al. Large deformation and stability analysis of a cylindrical rubber tube under internal pressure. J Theor App Mech-Pol, 2017, 55(1): 177-188.
31. 叶阳. 任意壁厚充气圆管屈曲与后屈曲分析. 天津: 天津大学, 2020.
32. Egorov V I, Schastlivtsev I V, Prut E V, et al. Mechanical properties of the human gastrointestinal tract. J Biomech, 2002, 35(10): 1417-1425.

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