Uptake of capsule endoscopy in the large intestine
has been very limited due to both the risk of missed lesions
and the often prolonged transit time, making it an unviable
alternative to standard colonoscopy. In this letter, we presented
a controllable and easy-to-use diagnostic tool, equipping a
novel vibration module inside a ...
Uptake of capsule endoscopy in the large intestine
has been very limited due to both the risk of missed lesions
and the often prolonged transit time, making it an unviable
alternative to standard colonoscopy. In this letter, we presented
a controllable and easy-to-use diagnostic tool, equipping a
novel vibration module inside a capsule robot for colonoscopy.
The capsule’s motion was controlled by applying an external
alternating electromagnetic field to the capsule’s inner magnet
to generate vibrations and impacts on the main body of the
capsule. To optimise its motion, we provided a numerical
solution for calculating its electromagnetic force and used it
to guide a hand-held control panel for navigating the robot.
The robot was firstly examined in a large intestine simulator
modelled based on the colon-rectal morphometrics, and then
tested in an ex vivo environment using porcine intestines. We
verified the performance of the robot travelling through the
entire intestine with the maximum speeds of 54 mm/s and 40
mm/s in the simulator and the ex vivo environment, respectively.
It was found that altering the control frequency of the panel
can help the robot to pass through various morphometrics, in
particular the sharp turnings at the segment junctions.