A soft hysteroscopy robot

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of medical diagnosis and treatment, and particularly relates to a soft hysteroscope robot, which comprises a robot main body, a tip visual sensor and an operating instrument and a driving box body; the robot main body is made of a film material connected with the inside and the outside, a flexible sensor is attached to the outer surface of the robot main body, the tip visual sensor and the operating instrument extend to the front end of the robot main body through the middle channel in the robot main body; the driving box body is arranged at the end of the robot main body, and a gas pump, a driving motor, a power supply, a data storage and a processor are arranged in the driving box body, which are used for robot driving, data acquisition and processing and motion control. The purpose of the present application is to provide a soft hysteroscope robot which is stretched into the uterine cavity in a self-growth mode, has multi-dimensional sensing capability and is provided with a front-end operating instrument, and is used for the diagnosis and treatment of uterine diseases such as cysts and intrauterine adhesions, can effectively reduce the damage to the uterus, shorten the diagnosis and treatment cycle and improve the diagnosis and treatment effect.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of medical diagnosis and treatment, in particular to a soft hysteroscope robot. BACKGROUND

[0002] Uterine disease refers to various lesions occurring in the uterine region, such as intrauterine inflammation, injury, tumor and cancer, etc., which is one of the most common diseases of women, and has a great impact on the health status and quality of life of patients.

[0003] The existing treatment methods for uterine diseases mainly include hormone therapy, radiotherapy and surgical treatment. Among them, for uterine injury, tumor and other conditions, surgical treatment is often the most direct and effective, and the current main means for diagnosis and treatment of intrauterine diseases is hysteroscopy. However, the current hysteroscopy equipment has the problems of obvious surgical pain, tissue damage, limited field of view, easy infection, etc., and the cost is high, and the operation requirements for doctors are high, which to some extent limits its further application. Therefore, it has great potential value to develop a new type of hysteroscope robot which relies on a new self-growth mode to extend into the uterine cavity, has good biocompatibility and integrates diagnosis and treatment, and there are few reports on such robots.

[0004] In summary, there is an urgent need for a soft hysteroscope robot which adopts a self-growth mode to extend into the uterine cavity, has multi-dimensional sensing capability, has front-end operating instruments, and is used for intelligent diagnosis and treatment of uterine diseases, can collect information of intrauterine disease lesions in real time and carry out treatment, reduce damage to the uterus, shorten the treatment cycle, and improve the treatment quality. SUMMARY

[0005] The purpose of the present application is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art, and to provide a soft hysteroscope robot which adopts a self-growth mode to extend into the uterine cavity, has multi-dimensional sensing capability, and has front-end operating instruments. It can be used for the diagnosis and treatment of uterine diseases such as cysts and intrauterine adhesions, and can effectively reduce damage to the uterus, shorten the diagnosis and treatment cycle, and improve the diagnosis and treatment effect.

[0006] The purpose of the present application is achieved by the following technical solutions:

[0007] A soft hysteroscope robot, comprising a robot main body, a tip visual sensor and an operating instrument and a drive box; the robot main body is made of a thin film material connected inside and outside, the outer surface of the robot main body is attached with a flexible sensor, the tip visual sensor and the operating instrument extend to the front end of the robot main body through the middle channel in the robot main body; the drive box is arranged at the end of the robot main body, and the drive box is internally provided with a gas pump, a driving motor, a power supply, a data storage and a processor for robot driving, data acquisition and processing, and motion control.

[0008] The robot main body is a soft material with chemical inertness.

[0009] The flexible tactile sensor has an extremely thin thickness to reduce the influence on the self-growth movement of the robot body.

[0010] The tip visual sensor and the operating instrument can be delivered or replaced through an intermediate channel in the robot body, and the intermediate channel is a channel formed by a film in the robot.

[0011] The robot body is divided into a primary body and a secondary body, the primary body has a larger diameter and is located at the rear, and is used for supporting and fixing in the vagina, and the secondary body has a smaller diameter and is located at the front, and is used for entering the uterus through the cervix.

[0012] The flexible sensor includes a primary body flexible sensor attached to the primary body, which is used to detect the normal force.

[0013] The flexible sensor further includes a secondary body flexible sensor attached to the secondary body, which is used to detect the tangential force.

[0014] The robot body includes a robot body outer wall and a robot body inner wall, the robot body outer wall is located outside the robot body inner wall, the robot body outer wall and the robot body inner wall are connected, the flexible sensor is attached to the outer surface of the robot body outer wall, and the tip visual sensor and the operating instrument pass through the robot body inner wall.

[0015] The robot body outer wall has a hydrophobic microstructure for guiding flow and preventing bacteria.

[0016] Further comprising a driving wire and a driving wire fixed terminal, the driving wire fixed terminal is fixed to the robot body inner wall at the secondary body, and is arranged in the space between the robot body outer wall and the robot body inner wall, the driving wire fixed terminal is connected with the driving motor shaft in the driving box through the driving wire, and is used for driving the primary body front end to turn. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 is a three-dimensional schematic view of the overall structure of the robot of the present application;

[0018] Figure 2 is a top view schematic view of the overall structure of the robot of the present application;

[0019] Figure 3 is a sectional view of the robot body structure of the robot of the present application; Figure 2

[0020] Figure 4 is a schematic view of the turning structure of the robot of the present application;

[0021] Figure 5 is the diagnosis and treatment process and steps of the robot of the present application.

[0022] ​In the figure: robot body 1; body first level flexible sensor 2; body second level flexible sensor 3; tip visual sensor and operating instrument 4; drive box 5; drive wire 6; drive wire fixed terminal 7; vagina 8; cervix 9; uterus 10; robot body outer wall 11; robot body inner wall 12. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the specific embodiments provided by the present application are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0024] The present application provides a soft hysteroscope medical robot, which is stretched into the uterine cavity in a self-growth manner, has multi-dimensional sensing capability, is provided with a front-end executor, and can be used for diagnosis of diseases in the uterus and minimally invasive surgery.

[0025] Referring to Figure 1 , the robot mainly comprises: a robot body 1, a body first level flexible sensor 2, a body second level flexible sensor 3, a tip visual sensor and operating instrument 4, and a drive box 5. In the embodiment, the robot body 1 is made of a thin film material connected inside and outside, preferably a soft material with chemical inertness, and is designed with a variable diameter to be divided into a first level body and a second level body. The first level body has a larger diameter and is used to support and fix in the vagina, and the second level body has a smaller diameter and is used to enter the uterus through the cervix. The outer surface of the body 1 is attached with a flexible sensor. The flexible sensor 2 attached to the outer surface of the first level body is mainly used to detect the normal force to determine whether the first level body is effectively supported and fixed in the vagina. The flexible sensor 3 attached to the outer surface of the second level body is mainly used to detect the tangential force to determine whether the cervix wall is scratched during the self-growth movement of the second level body. The flexible tactile sensor has an extremely thin thickness to reduce the influence on the self-growth movement of the robot body. The end of the robot body 1 is connected with the drive box 5, and the drive box 5 is internally provided with a gas pump, a drive motor, a power supply, a data storage and a processor, etc., which are used for robot driving, data acquisition and processing, motion control, etc. There is a visual sensor and an operating instrument 4 at the tip of the body, which extends to the front end of the robot through the intermediate channel formed by the inner layer of the film and can be delivered or retrieved through the intermediate channel formed by the inner layer of the film. The tip visual sensor can take all-around pictures of the inner wall of the uterine cavity and feed back the image information to the upper computer for detection through the signal line.

[0026] Referring to Figure 3The robot body outer wall 11 has good sealing and biocompatibility, and the surface has a hydrophobic microstructure for guiding and preventing bacteria to ensure that the robot does not infect and harm the human body during contact with the tissue. The robot body outer wall 11 and the robot body inner wall 12 are filled with gas and maintain a certain pressure, and the body is driven to grow outward. When the body is not growing, it is folded and stored in a paper folding method, and when it is working, the drive box fills the gas between the robot body outer wall 12 and the robot body inner wall 11, and the paper folding storage method can ensure that the body is unfolded from the root to the front end during the gas pressure driven outward growth, and the body first grows to the vagina, and then the diameter of the body is changed to small diameter for secondary growth, and then enters the uterus through the cervix. The inner and outer walls of the body can adjust the stiffness of the robot body to a certain extent, protect the internal circuit, and reduce the influence of electronic components on the human body.

[0027] Referring to Figure 4 The drive line 6 and the signal line are arranged between the intermediate channel formed between the robot body outer wall 11 and the robot body inner wall 12, and the drive line fixed terminal 7 is arranged on the inner layer film of the secondary robot body. One end of the drive line 6 is connected to the drive line fixed terminal 7, and the other end is connected to the drive motor shaft in the drive box 5. The controller in the drive box 5 controls the rotation of the drive motor shaft according to the needs, and then drives the drive line fixed terminal 7 fixed on the body to drive the secondary body to turn the front end of the robot, and the auxiliary visual sensor captures wide-angle image information to facilitate uterine disease diagnosis.

[0028] Referring to Figure 5 The whole process of the soft hysteroscope robot is shown. The robot body grows outward to complete the first growth in the vagina, and the first body has the characteristics of large diameter, which can expand and open the vagina, and can also support the vagina. Then the robot continues to grow and the secondary body is unfolded, and the secondary body has the characteristics of small diameter, which can grow through the cervix into the uterus, and the extension method of the robot can avoid scratching and damaging the uterus, and also reduce the pain of the patient. The visual sensor and the operating instrument 4 are delivered and replaced through the intermediate channel formed by the inner layer film of the robot body 1, the internal environment of the uterine cavity is observed through the visual sensor, and the image information is transmitted back to the upper computer to complete intelligent diagnosis, and the information collected by the secondary flexible sensor is fused with the visual information collected by the visual sensor, which can ensure accurate operation and rapid treatment of the operating instrument.

[0029] The soft hysteroscope robot of the application is used for the diagnosis and treatment of uterine diseases, and its high degree of freedom, multi-dimensional sensing capability and all-soft material components also have application prospects in the diagnosis and treatment of other biological cavity diseases such as intestinal diseases. At present, no similar technology or report has been found, and no similar data has been collected at home and abroad.

[0030] The above merely illustrates the technical idea of the present application, and cannot limit the protection scope of the present application. Any modification made according to the technical idea of the present application on the basis of the technical scheme falls within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A hysteroscopic robot, comprising: The robot body (1), the tip visual sensor and operating instrument (4) and the driving box (5) are included; the robot body (1) is made of the film material connected inside and outside; the flexible sensor is attached to the outer surface of the robot body (1); the tip visual sensor and operating instrument (4) extend to the front end of the robot body (1) through the middle channel in the robot body (1); the driving box (5) is arranged at the end of the robot body (1); the driving box (5) is internally provided with the air pump, the driving motor, the power supply, the data storage and the processor, and is used for driving the robot, collecting and processing data and controlling motion; The tip visual sensor and operating instrument (4) can be delivered or replaced through the middle channel in the robot body (1); The robot body (1) is divided into the first body and the second body; the first body is larger in diameter and is located at the rear, and is used for supporting and fixing in the vagina; the second body is smaller in diameter and is located at the front, and is used for entering the uterus through the cervix; The robot body (1) includes the robot body outer wall (11) and the robot body inner wall (12); the robot body outer wall (11) is located outside the robot body inner wall (12); the robot body outer wall (11) and the robot body inner wall (12) are connected; the flexible sensor is attached to the outer surface of the robot body outer wall (11); the tip visual sensor and operating instrument (4) pass through the middle channel formed by the robot body inner wall (12); The robot body outer wall (11) and the robot body inner wall (12) are filled with gas and maintain a certain pressure; under the driving of the gas pressure, the body realizes the outward growth; the body first grows to become the first body and enters the vagina; then the first body changes the diameter to become the second body and enters the uterus through the cervix.

2. A hysteroscopic robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The robot body (1) is made of a soft material with chemical inertia.

3. A hysteroscopic robot according to claim 1, wherein: The flexible sensor has an extremely thin thickness, so as to reduce the influence on the self-growth motion of the robot body.

4. The hysteroscopic robot of claim 1, wherein: The flexible sensor includes the first body flexible sensor (2) attached to the first body, and is used for detecting the normal force.

5. A hysteroscopic robot according to claim 4, wherein: The flexible sensor further includes the second body flexible sensor (3) attached to the second body, and is used for detecting the tangential force.

6. The hysteroscopic robot of claim 1, wherein: The robot body outer wall (11) has a hydrophobic microstructure, and is used for guiding flow and preventing bacteria.

7. The hysteroscopic robot of claim 1, wherein: The driving line (6) and the driving line fixed terminal (7) are further included; the driving line fixed terminal (7) is fixed to the robot body inner wall (12) at the second body, and is arranged in the space between the robot body outer wall (11) and the robot body inner wall (12); the driving line fixed terminal (7) is connected with the driving motor shaft in the driving box (5) through the driving line (6), and is used for driving the first body front end to turn.

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