STORM Lab UK, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
STORM Lab USA, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA.
Sci Robot. 2019 Jun 26;4(31). doi: 10.1126/scirobotics.aav7725. Epub 2019 Jun 19.
Diagnostic endoscopy in the gastrointestinal tract has remained largely unchanged for decades and is limited to the visualization of the tissue surface, the collection of biopsy samples for diagnoses, and minor interventions such as clipping or tissue removal. In this work, we present the autonomous servoing of a magnetic capsule robot for , subsurface diagnostics of microanatomy. We investigated and showed the feasibility of closed-loop magnetic control using digitized microultrasound (μUS) feedback; this is crucial for obtaining robust imaging in an unknown and unconstrained environment. We demonstrated the functionality of an autonomous servoing algorithm that uses μUS feedback, both on benchtop trials as well as in a porcine model. We have validated this magnetic-μUS servoing in instances of autonomous linear probe motion and were able to locate markers in an agar phantom with 1.0 ± 0.9 mm position accuracy using a fusion of robot localization and μUS image information. This work demonstrates the feasibility of closed-loop robotic μUS imaging in the bowel without the need for either a rigid physical link between the transducer and extracorporeal tools or complex manual manipulation.
几十年来，胃肠道的诊断内镜基本保持不变，仅限于观察组织表面，采集用于诊断的活检样本，以及进行小的干预，如夹闭或组织切除。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种用于胃肠道的自主式磁控胶囊机器人，用于进行亚表面微解剖诊断。我们研究并展示了使用数字化微超声（μUS）反馈进行闭环磁控的可行性；这对于在未知和不受约束的环境中获得稳健的成像至关重要。我们展示了一种自主式伺服算法的功能，该算法使用μUS 反馈，在台式试验和猪模型中都进行了验证。我们已经验证了这种磁-μUS 伺服在自主式线性探头运动中的有效性，并且能够使用机器人定位和 μUS 图像信息的融合，在琼脂模型中以 1.0±0.9mm 的位置精度定位标记。这项工作证明了在不需要探头和体外工具之间刚性物理连接或复杂手动操作的情况下，在肠道中进行闭环机器人 μUS 成像的可行性。
