Sub-millimeter fiberscopic robot with integrated maneuvering, imaging, and biomedical operation abilities.

Journal: Nature communications
PMID: 39738028

Abstract

Small-scale continuum robots hold promise for interventional diagnosis and treatment, yet existing models struggle to achieve small size, precise steering, and visualized functional treatment simultaneously, termed an "impossible trinity". This study introduces an optical fiber-based continuum robot integrated imaging, high-precision motion, and multifunctional operation abilities at submillimeter-scale. With a slim profile of 0.95 mm achieved by microscale 3D printing and magnetic spray, this continuum robot delivers competitive imaging performance and extends obstacle detection distance up to ~9.4 mm, a tenfold improvement from the theoretical limits. Besides, the robot showcases remarkable motion precision (less than 30 μm) and substantially widens the imaging region by ~25 times the inherent view. Through ex vivo trials, we validate the robot's practicality in navigating constrained channels, such as the lung end bronchus, and executing multifunctional operations including sampling, drug delivery, and laser ablation. The proposed submillimeter continuum robot marks a significant advancement in developing biomedical robots, unlocking numerous potential applications in biomedical engineering.

Authors

  • Tieshan Zhang
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
  • Gen Li
    Department of Orthopedics, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200072, P.R.China.
  • Hao Ren
    Department of Rheumatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: renhao67@aliyun.com.
  • Liu Yang
    Department of Ultrasound, Hunan Children's Hospital, Changsha, China.
  • Xiong Yang
    School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: xiong.yang@tju.edu.cn.
  • Rong Tan
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999017, China.
  • Yifeng Tang
    National Demonstration Center for Experimental Optoelectronic Engineering Education, School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China.
  • Dong Guo
    College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Hangzhou, 310018, China.
  • Haoxiang Zhao
    Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China.
  • Wanfeng Shang
    Mechanical Engineering Department, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710054, China.
  • Yajing Shen
    Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

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