Application of Cosserat Rod Theory to Configuration Estimation of Colonoscope

Abstract

Biologically-inspired continuum robots have attracted much attention in variety of fields, especially in medical applications due to their compliance and high dexterity. This paper presents an application to colonoscopy surgery. Beam mechanics-based model is used to model the shape of the colonoscope. By measuring the force exerted on the distal end of the endoscope, we could reconstruct the shape of the endoscope in simulation. Furthermore, comparison of the simulation and experiment result shows that when the length of the endoscope becomes longer, the matching error becomes bigger. We found that this error can be reduced by using different material property of the distal end of the endoscope.