Continuum Robot Camera-View Control for Precise Passage Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current continuum robots face challenges in accurately navigating and orienting within confined spaces, particularly in medical applications, due to insufficient information about the relationship between the camera view and coordinate systems, leading to experimental and potentially harmful movements during procedures like biopsy.
Innovation Solution
A robotic apparatus with a continuum robot featuring an actuator, controller, and control input device that utilizes end-effector and base coordinate systems to store and manipulate bending input vectors, providing visual feedback and adjusting camera views to ensure precise orientation and direction control, allowing for accurate manipulation and navigation without contacting fragile elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the robot uses base coordinate system variables (bending angle and plane) for control, then the robot structure remains simple, but the operator cannot accurately control the robot's orientation and direction in the camera view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary coordinate transformation mechanism that converts between the base coordinate system and the camera view coordinate system. This intermediary layer allows the operator to control the robot using intuitive camera-view-based variables while the system automatically handles the complex coordinate transformations, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical control approach (direct manipulation of bending angles) with a computational approach (coordinate system transformation and vector calculation). By substituting mechanical control with computational methods, the system achieves more intuitive and accurate control without requiring complex mechanical modifications.
2Measurement precision
If the robot advances without visual feedback on spatial relationship, then the robot can move freely through passages, but the operator cannot accurately understand the position of the tip relative to the lesion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism by overlaying visual indicators (such as arrows or lines) on the camera view that represent the robot's bending direction and tip orientation. This provides the operator with real-time visual feedback on the spatial relationship between the robot tip and the surrounding environment, enabling accurate spatial measurement while maintaining procedural efficiency through intuitive visual guidance.
3Reliability
If the robot uses experimental movements to locate the lesion, then the robot can explore the environment, but this approach is harmful to the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and displaying the expected robot tip position and orientation based on the current bending state and planned movements. This allows the operator to predict the outcome of control inputs before executing them, eliminating the need for harmful experimental movements while maintaining reliable and accurate lesion localization through informed, deliberate control.
Data Source
AI summary
A continuum robot having at least two independently manipulateable bendable section for advancing the robot through a passage, without contacting fragile elements within the passage, wherein the robot incorporates control algorithms that enable the continuum robot to operate and advance into the passage, as well as the systems and procedures associated with the continuum robot and said functionality.