Design of a haptic interface for a gastrointestinal endoscopy simulation

Abstract

This paper presents a new design and analysis of a haptic interface for a gastrointestinal endoscopy simulation. The gastrointestinal endoscopy is a procedure in which the digestive tract and organs of a patient are diagnosed and treated using a long and flexible endoscope. The developed haptic interface incorporates two degrees of freedom (DOF), each of which is necessary to describe the movements of an endoscope during the actual endoscopy procedures. The haptic interface has a translational motion mechanism to implement the insertion movement of the endoscope, and a rotational motion mechanism to implement the rotational movement of the endoscope. The endoscope included in the haptic interface is supported by a folding guide to prevent the endoscope from buckling. Force feedback in each direction is provided by wire-driven mechanisms. The developed haptic interface has a workspace, sensitivity, and maximum attainable force and torque enough to simulate the endoscopy procedures such as colonoscopy, upper GI (gastrointestinal) endoscopy, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The developed haptic interface is applied to implementation of a colonoscopy simulation. Performance including force bandwidth is evaluated through experiments and simulation. © 2012 Copyright Taylor & Francis and The Robotics Society of Japan.