索状フレキシブルクローラの開発

抄録

Recently, the number of colorectal cancer and polyp patients has been increasing. Colonoscopies are often used for diagnosis and treatment of rectal and colon diseases. However, passing an endoscope into the large intestine is an extremely difficult operation in conventional large intestine endoscopy. Therefore, many robots have been developed recently. Nevertheless, they cannot move independently or quickly. Therefore, we propose funicular flexible crawler for colonoscopy. The crawler is suitable for propulsion through narrow spaces because it is driven by a geared motor arranged outside of the body through a flexible shaft. Through experimentation with a large intestine phantom, we confirmed that the proposed crawler can run quickly from the anus to the cecum.