Heisterberg Leander, Manfredi Luigi, Wichmann Dörte, Maier Thomas, Pott Peter P
Institute of Medical Device Technology, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
Division of Imaging Science and Technology, Centre of Medical Engineering and Technology (CMET), School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom.
Front Robot AI. 2025 Mar 24;12:1559574. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2025.1559574. eCollection 2025.
The ergonomics of flexible endoscopes require improvement as the current design carries a high risk of musculoskeletal injury for endoscopists. Robotic systems offer a solution by separating the endoscope from the control handle, allowing a focus on ergonomics and usability. Despite the increasing interest in this field, little attention has been paid towards developing ergonomic human input devices. This study addresses two key questions: How can handheld control devices for flexible robotic endoscopy be designed to prioritize ergonomics and usability? And, how effective are these new devices in a simulated clinical environment?
Addressing this gap, the study proposes two handheld input device models for controlling a flexible endoscope in four degrees of freedom (DOFs) and an endoscopic instrument in three DOFs. A two-stage evaluation was conducted with six endoscopists evaluating the physical ergonomics and a final clinical user evaluation with seven endoscopists using a virtual colonoscopy simulator with proportional velocity and position mapping.
Both models demonstrated clinical suitability, with the first model scoring 4.8 and the second model scoring 5.2 out of 6 in the final evaluation. In sum, the study presents two designs of ergonomic control devices for robotic colonoscopy, which have the potential to reduce endoscopy-related injuries. Furthermore, the proposed colonoscopy simulator is useful to evaluate the benefits of different mapping modes. This could help to optimize the design and control mechanism of future control devices.
由于当前的设计使内镜医师面临较高的肌肉骨骼损伤风险，因此柔性内窥镜的人体工程学需要改进。机器人系统通过将内窥镜与控制手柄分离提供了一种解决方案，从而可以专注于人体工程学和可用性。尽管该领域的关注度不断提高，但对开发符合人体工程学的人体输入设备却很少有人关注。本研究解决了两个关键问题：如何设计用于柔性机器人内窥镜检查的手持式控制设备，以优先考虑人体工程学和可用性？以及，这些新设备在模拟临床环境中的效果如何？
为了填补这一空白，该研究提出了两种手持式输入设备模型，用于控制具有四个自由度（DOF）的柔性内窥镜和具有三个自由度的内窥镜器械。进行了两阶段评估，六名内镜医师评估了物理人体工程学，最后七名内镜医师使用具有比例速度和位置映射的虚拟结肠镜模拟器进行了临床用户评估。
两种模型均显示出临床适用性，在最终评估中，第一种模型得分为4.8，第二种模型得分为5.2（满分6分）。总之，该研究提出了两种用于机器人结肠镜检查的符合人体工程学的控制设备设计，它们有可能减少与内窥镜检查相关的损伤。此外，所提出的结肠镜模拟器有助于评估不同映射模式的益处。这有助于优化未来控制设备的设计和控制机制。
