Abstract
This paper describes the development of an endoscopic robot attached to a large intestine endoscope. Colorectal cancers can be cured completely if they are discovered early with a large intestine endoscope. While the endoscope can be used to screen and heal this cancer, its operation is difficult. In this study, to solve the difficulties associated with the use of this endoscope, we propose an endoscopic robot with bellow type artificial muscle, using peristaltic crawling. This robot can automatically move forward and pull up slacks. In addition, this robot can traverse bent pipes such as splenic flexures. Unlike other endoscopic robots, our robot can be attached to an endoscope, enabling us to benefit from the endoscope's various functions. In this paper, we fabricated a bellows-type artificial muscle that enables the robot to pass through splenic flexures. Experimental results confirmed that the robot can pull up the sigmoid colon of a dead swine that is placed in a human body. In addition, in a large intestine model, we used the robot with an endoscope to reach the cecum.
