CN103006165B - Flexible endoscope robot with variable rigidity - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a flexible endoscope robot with the variable rigidity. One end of a conduit component is connected with a driving component; a ball bag component is arranged on the end part of the free end of the conduit component; a fluid supply component is connected with the ball bag component via a fluid pipe; the conduit component is made of soft silica gel; the inside of the conduit component is provided with a plurality of embedded rope yarns and a hard fixed knot; the first end of each embedded rope yarn is connected with the hard fixed knot; the second end of each embedded rope yarn is fixedly connected with the driving component; the dragging of the embedded rope yarns and the propelling movement of the conduit are controlled by the driving component; the ball bag component is detachably installed on the conduit component and can move along the peripheral surface of the conduit component within a large range; and the fluid supply component is used for discharging fluid to the ball bag component via the fluid conduit to control the expansion and the contraction of the ball bag component. According to the flexible endoscope robot with the variable rigidity, on one hand, the conduit rigidity can be controllably changed, action between the conduit and the human body tissue is reduced, and the discomfort of a patient is lowered. On the other hand, the tail end position of the conduit can be more precisely controlled, and the working intensity of an operator is lowered.

Description

Flexible endoscopic robot with variable stiffness

technical field

The invention relates to an endoscope robot system in the technical field of medical endoscopes, in particular to a flexible endoscope robot with variable stiffness.

Background technique

Generally, an endoscope is composed of an operation part and an insertion part, and the insertion part is further divided into a soft part and a bending part. Wherein, the soft part is a slender flexible hose extending from the operating part; the bending part is located at the top of the soft part and is relatively short, and can be controlled to bend in one or two directions through the operating part.

At present, the insertion part of a medical endoscope is relatively hard compared to human tissue, and the main method of inserting it into a body cavity is to apply force outside the patient's body. During the advancement process, when the inserted catheter encounters a narrow and curved environment deep in the body cavity, on the one hand, because the soft part cannot actively bend, the interaction with human tissues is greater, and the patient feels a strong sense of discomfort; on the other hand, Due to the flexibility of human tissue, once the external thrust is released, the inserted part will be pushed back due to the anti-thrust of the tissue, and the propulsion effect is not good. These also make it difficult for the operator to precisely control the posture of the end of the catheter. Repeated adjustments may be required when performing fine operations in the target area, and fatigue is likely to occur after long hours of work.

In order to solve the above problems, balloon-type endoscopes and balloon insertion aids have been proposed one after another. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-181121 proposes to insert a balloon device through the instrument channel of the endoscope to the front end. , and can move in the far and near direction. The balloon device can reduce the propulsion resistance to a certain extent, but because the balloon must pass through the device channel, the actual usable balloon is small. In addition, in the endoscope described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-299261, an air bag is arranged on the outer periphery of the insertion part, and the air bag can be moved in the far-near direction by the screw feeding structure in the tube. Although the volume of the airbag in this device has increased, its advance and retreat amount depends on the size of the opening of the screw structure, the actual movable amount is small, and the operation is more time-consuming. In addition, there is also a double-balloon endoscope device such as Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-301019, through which the two balloons on the insertion part and the outer tube alternately expand and contract in the cavity, realizing the alternate Fix, advance.

In the above-mentioned endoscopes and existing product examples, most of the balloon auxiliary parts are fixed at the front end of the insertion catheter, or can only move within a small range at the front end, the area of action is very limited, and the stiffness of the soft part cannot be controlled . The common problems of endoscopes such as high friction, difficult propulsion, and cumbersome operation still exist to varying degrees.

Therefore, in order to further improve the performance of endoscopes, reduce the workload of operators, and alleviate the pain of patients, autonomous or semi-autonomous endoscopes have gradually become the focus of research and development in the biomedical device industry. For example, the active intestinal endoscope robot system developed by Shanghai Jiaotong University in my country, whose domestic patent application number is 200410054206.9, utilizes the principle of bionics and adopts a linear electromagnetic drive method to make the robot wriggle in the intestinal tract. Another example is the continuous-body semi-autonomous endoscopic robot developed by Harbin Institute of Technology, whose domestic patent application number is 200910072751.3, which is connected in series through multiple joints and universal joints, driven by steel wires and springs, and can realize the composite of ten degrees of freedom. Flex motion to accommodate complex bowel conditions. In addition, Japan's Tohoku University has developed a serpentine drive device suitable for intestinal or vascular environments using memory alloy drives; the California Institute of Technology has developed a pneumatic endoscopic robot system that controls the body through the increase and decrease of gas pressure forward and backward.

Compared with traditional endoscopes, the controllable degrees of freedom of the above-mentioned several endoscope robot systems have increased significantly, but in the existing examples, almost all of them use traditional hard materials, and the stiffness of the device is not variable. Also, most systems are actuated using shape memory alloys or airflow. On the one hand, the use of hard materials in medical devices for intracavitary operations will have certain safety hazards and will also bring some discomfort to patients; Difference.

Contents of the invention

The present invention aims at the above-mentioned deficiencies in the prior art, and provides a flexible endoscopic robot with variable stiffness.

The present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions.

A flexible endoscopic robot with variable stiffness, comprising a catheter part, a driving part, a fluid supply part and a balloon part, wherein one end of the catheter part is connected to the driving part, and the balloon part is arranged on the catheter part The end part of the free end, the fluid supply part is connected with the balloon part through a fluid tube; the catheter part is made of soft silicone, and a number of embedded ropes and hard fixing joints are arranged inside. The first end of the embedded rope is connected with the hard fixing joint, and the second end of the embedded rope is fixedly connected with the driving part.

The inside of the catheter part is also provided with a working channel and a turning channel, wherein the working channel is located at the center and runs through the entire catheter part in the axial direction; the several turning channels are distributed on the radially outer side of the working channel for placing Embedded ropes, the number of hard fixed joints is several, one of which is embedded in the top part of the catheter part, and the rest are flexibly arranged in different positions inside the catheter part according to needs; the number of the embedded ropes is different from that of the hard fixed joint match the quantity.

The turning channels are equiangularly distributed on the outer side of the working channel in the radial direction.

The working channel includes an instrument channel and an optical fiber channel, wherein the instrument channel is used to insert various instruments and tools, and the optical fiber channel is embedded with a miniature camera, and its top is provided with an illumination component, and its end is connected to an image acquisition device The plurality of hard fixation sections are ring-shaped, and the instrument channel and the fiber channel pass through the central through hole of the hard fixation section; the turning channel includes a top turning channel and a middle turning channel, and the top turning The channels and the central turning channel are distributed equiangularly around the interior of the conduit member.

The balloon part is a hollow structure, which is detachably installed on the catheter part and can move along the outer peripheral surface of the catheter part; A fixed part, the side wall of the balloon part is provided with an axially arranged balloon fluid channel and a radially arranged suction cup fluid channel, the front end of the balloon part is embedded with a shaping mechanism, and the balloon part is connected with the catheter A suction cup device is embedded in the parts where the parts meet.

The driving part includes a lead screw base, a lead screw slider, a micromotor, a winding reel, a propulsion base and a conduit fixture, wherein the micromotor is fixed on the propulsion base, and the propulsion base and the lead screw slider Relatively fixed; the catheter fixing part is in contact with the propulsion base, and the contact part is provided with an aperture for the embedded rope and the fluid pipe to pass through; the screw base drives the screw to control the sliding of the screw through the motor installed inside it. The block moves linearly; the second end of the embedded rope is fixedly connected with the winding wheel, and the micro motor completes the retraction and release of the embedded rope by driving the winding wheel.

The fluid supply component includes a balloon supply structure and a suction cup supply structure, both of which are connected to the balloon component through fluid tubes for controlling the expansion and contraction of the balloon component.

A position-limiting structure for preventing the balloon component from detaching from the catheter component is provided between the end of the catheter component and the balloon component.

The outer surface of any one of the embedded ropes is provided with a layer of soft silicone tubing for protecting catheter components.

The invention reduces the hardness of the catheter, making the insertion part of the catheter soft and easy to deform; at the same time, by embedding ropes in different parts of the catheter, the catheter parts can flexibly adjust their own stiffness by pulling one or more ropes, and produce multiple degrees of freedom in bending deformation. Therefore, the present invention reduces the interaction between the insertion part and human tissue, so as to reduce the patient's discomfort; in addition, the balloon part and the catheter part are relatively independent, and the balloon can move in a large range, which is no longer limited to the front end, which enhances its The scope of action during the advancement process; after the balloon component is inflated, it is fixed in the cavity like a base, and a part of the catheter located in front of the balloon component can still be bent, so that the bending of the catheter end is precise and controllable.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a general structure diagram of the device of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial enlarged view of area A in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the catheter part in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the catheter part in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a left side view of the catheter part in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is A--A sectional view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a C--C sectional view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a D--D sectional view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 is the E--E sectional view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 10 is a partial enlarged view of area B in Fig. 3;

Fig. 11 is a partially enlarged view of area F in Fig. 3;

Figure 12 is a perspective view of the balloon component in Figure 1;

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram when the balloon in Fig. 12 is deflated;

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram when the balloon in Fig. 12 is inflated;

Figure 15 is a left side view of the balloon in Figure 12;

Fig. 16 is a partial enlarged view of area C in Fig. 15;

Fig. 17 is A--A sectional view of Fig. 15;

Fig. 18 is the B--B sectional view of Fig. 15;

Fig. 19 is a partially enlarged view of area F in Fig. 18;

Fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the driving part in Fig. 1;

Fig. 21 is a schematic diagram of the endoscope just entering the cavity in the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 22 is a schematic diagram of an endoscope encountering a narrow environment in an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 23 is a schematic diagram when the endoscope encounters a corner in an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 24 is a schematic diagram when the endoscope encounters two corners successively in the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 25 is a schematic diagram of the fine operation of the endoscope in the target area in the embodiment of the present invention;

In the figure, 1 is the balloon part; 2 is the catheter part; 3 is the driving part; 4 is the instrument channel; 5 is the fiber optic channel; 6 is the top fixing section; 7 is the top steering channel; Steering channel; 10 is the expandable part of the balloon; 11 is the fluid channel of the balloon; 12 is the micro-suction cup; 13 is the balloon fixing part a; 14 is the balloon fixing part b; 15 is the suction cup fluid channel; 16 is the light weight Spring; 17 is a fluid supply part; 18 is a fluid pipe; 19 is a lead screw base; 20 is a lead screw slider; 21 is a micro motor; 22 is a propulsion base;

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below: the present embodiment is implemented under the premise of the technical solution of the present invention, and detailed implementation and specific operation process are provided, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the following implementation example.

As shown in Figure 1, this embodiment includes: a catheter part 2, a driving part 3, a fluid supply part 17 and a balloon part 1, wherein one end of the catheter part 2 is connected to the driving part 3, and the balloon part 1 is arranged on the catheter At the end of the free end of part 2, the fluid supply part 17 is connected with the balloon part through the fluid tube 18; the catheter part 2 is made of soft silicone, and its interior is provided with a firmer embedded rope and a hard fixing joint, The first end of the embedded rope is connected to the hard fixing joint, The second end is fixedly connected with the driving part 3 . In this embodiment, the embedded rope adopts a thin steel wire, hereinafter referred to as a steering wire.

Catheter part 2, which is equivalent to the insertion part of a traditional endoscope, is used to insert into the body cavity for endoscopic examination; balloon part 1, which is detachably installed on the catheter part 2, is used to assist the insertion of the catheter part and Fixed; the driving part 3 is equivalent to the operating part of the traditional endoscope, which is used to provide propulsion power and control the main catheter 2 to complete related actions; the fluid supply part 17 can discharge fluid to the balloon part 1 to control Inflation and deflation of the balloon.

The catheter part 2 is made of relatively soft medical silica gel, and the hardness of the silica gel used in this embodiment is about 30A. Medical silica gel has no allergic reaction to human tissue, and has very little rejection reaction; at the same time, it is quite stable, and can maintain its original elasticity and softness when in contact with body fluids and tissues. It is high temperature resistant and can be sterilized.

A working channel and a turning channel are also arranged in the catheter 2 .

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the working channel is located at the center, axially runs through the entire catheter component 2 , and includes an instrument channel 4 and an optical fiber channel 5 . Various endoscopic auxiliary tools can be inserted and replaced in the instrument channel 4; a micro camera is embedded in the fiber channel 5, the top of which contains LED lights to provide illumination, and the end is directly connected to the image acquisition device to obtain images in the cavity in real time. The two channels can have different specifications in size according to needs.

The steering channel is located on the radially outer side of the working channel, and has a built-in steering steel wire, one end of which is connected with the hard fixing joint in the catheter, and the other end is fixed on the inner winding reel 23 of the driving part 3 . In the accompanying drawings, except Fig. 23,24,25, turning steel wire is all not marked in other figure.

There are several hard fixing joints, one of which is embedded in the top part of the catheter part, hereinafter referred to as the top hard fixing joint; the rest can be flexibly arranged in different positions in the middle of the catheter part according to needs, hereinafter referred to as the middle hard fixing joint. The number of steering wires matches the number of hard fixing joints, and the first end of any steering wire is connected with a specific hard fixing joint.

Correspondingly, the steering channel is divided into a top steering channel and a middle steering channel, wherein the steering steel wire arranged in the top steering channel is connected with the top hard fixing joint, and the steering steel wire arranged in the middle steering channel is connected with the middle hard fixing joint Specifically, as shown in Figure 3, in this embodiment, two hard fixing joints are used: the top hard fixing joint 6 is embedded in the top part of the catheter, the steering wire is fixedly connected to it through the top steering channel 7, and the middle part is hard fixed Section 8 is embedded in the middle of the catheter, and the steering wire is fixedly connected to it through the middle steering channel 9 . The two hard fixation sections are ring-shaped, and their positions are fixed in the catheter. The instrument channel 4 and the fiber channel 5 run through both, as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 8 . In this embodiment, there are four turning passages 7 at the top and four turning passages 9 at the middle, and they are distributed in the conduit part 2 at equiangular circles, as shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 . A thin layer of soft silicone tubing is tightly placed on the outside of the steering wire to prevent the wire from cutting the tube wall from damaging the channel.

The balloon part 1 is detachably mounted on the catheter part 2 for assisting the insertion and fixation of the catheter and can move relatively along the catheter. As shown in FIG. 12 , the main structure of the balloon component includes: an inflatable part 10 , a balloon fluid channel 11 , a micro suction cup 12 , balloon fixing parts 13 , 14 , a suction cup fluid channel 15 and a fluid tube 19 . The balloon part can be a disposable disposable product, or a reusable product that can be cleaned and disinfected after use.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 , the balloon inflatable part 10 is in the shape of a hollow bag made of a material with good stretchability such as latex, and fluids such as air are filled or discharged through the fluid channel 11 of the balloon. As shown in Figure 17, the expandable part 10 is fixed by two fixed parts 13, 14 at the front and back, and its material is made of flexible hard material, such as fluorine-containing resin tube or polypropylene wire, etc., and can also be used at the contact point The adhesive further seals.

As shown in FIG. 17 , one end of the balloon fluid channel 11 leads to the inflatable component 10 , and the other end is connected to a fluid tube 19 (not shown). The fluid pipe 19 is relatively independent from the catheter part 2, and is made of hard flexible material, such as a relatively hard plastic pipe or a silicone hose embedded with hard plastic. On the one hand, the fluid tube 19 is used to transport fluid, and on the other hand, the balloon component 1 connected to the top can be driven by pushing and pulling it. The balloon part and the catheter part are relatively independent and can move on the entire catheter. As shown in FIG. 2 , the front part of the catheter part 1 is also provided with a limiting structure to prevent the balloon from being pushed too far and detached from the catheter.

As shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 , one end of the balloon component 1 is embedded with a fixing mechanism, and a micro suction cup 12 is used in this embodiment. The suction cup fluid channel 15 is connected with the fluid pipe 18, and the suction cup is controlled to absorb or release the catheter through the fluid supply part 17. In this embodiment, there are two balloon fluid channels 11 , two micro suction cups 12 and two suction cup fluid channels 15 , which are symmetrically distributed on the balloon component 1 , as shown in FIG. 15 .

The fixing mechanism only fixes the balloon to the catheter in a controllable manner, and is not limited to the sucker device and its specifications in this embodiment, and can also be replaced by components such as memory alloys and flexible polymer materials.

In order to keep the front section of the balloon part 1 always in a cylindrical shape during the pushing process, and to prevent the front end from turning over or foreign matter entering the gap between it and the catheter, the front section of the balloon is provided with a shaped structure. In the present embodiment, a small section of flexible light spring 16 is adopted, as shown in Fig. 17 and Fig. 18 . The spring is only used to maintain the shape, and as an alternative, a flexible part made of fluorine-containing resin or other high-molecular materials can also be used.

As shown in FIG. 20 , the driving part 3 is connected to the end of the catheter part 2 and mainly includes: a screw base 19 , a screw slider 20 , a micromotor 21 , a winding wheel 23 , a propulsion base 22 and a catheter fixing member 24 .

The screw base 19 drives the screw through the motor arranged inside it to control the linear movement of the screw slider 20 . The micromotor 21 completes the retracting and unwinding of the steering wire by driving the winding wheel 23, and the micromotor is fixed on the propulsion base 22, and the propulsion base 22 is relatively fixed with the lead screw slider 20. The catheter fixing part 24 is mainly used to connect and fix the catheter part 2 and the fluid pipe 18 with the propulsion base 22 , and the part in contact with the propulsion base 22 has a relevant aperture through which the steering wire and the fluid pipe 18 penetrate.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the fluid tube 18 passes through the drive member 3 and is connected to the fluid supply member 17 . In this embodiment, the fluid supply part is divided into a balloon supply pump and a sucker supply pump, both of which can be controlled independently. In addition, a device such as a syringe may be used instead of a pump for fluid supply, and direct manual control may be used.

In the following, the case of inserting the device into a body cavity for endoscopic examination will be described in conjunction with the above-mentioned device.

Before endoscopic examination, as shown in FIG. 1 , the balloon component 1 is placed on the front end of the catheter 2 , and then the catheter 2 and the fluid tube 18 are fixed on the push base 22 through the catheter fixing member 24 , as shown in FIG. 20 . Finally, the fluid pipe 18 is connected with the fluid supply part 17, and the steering wire in the catheter is connected with the reel 23 in the drive part 3, and the micro camera in the fiber channel 5 is connected with the image acquisition device.

When the endoscopic examination is started, as shown in FIG. 2 , the balloon is in a contracted state, and is fixed on the front section of the catheter by a micro suction cup 12 . Next, the catheter part 2 is inserted into the patient's body through a minimally invasive surgical incision. Thereafter, the endoscope may encounter different situations in the body cavity, as shown in Fig. 21 to Fig. 24 , and the operation method of this embodiment under different situations will be described in detail.

As shown in Figure 21, when the endoscope just enters the cavity, the environment is not too narrow and crowded, and the resistance is small. At this time, the balloon component 1 is still in a contracted state and is fixed on the catheter 2 through the suction cup 12 , and the operator mainly controls the driving component 3 to push the endoscope.

In this case, if the friction between the endoscope and a certain contact part in the cavity is large, and the catheter itself is soft, certain bending deformation may occur when pushing, resulting in poor propulsion effect. At this moment, it is possible to control all micromotors 21 in the driving part 3 to turn over the same small angle, so that the steering wires all tighten the fixed joints connected to them. In this way, the catheter itself will shrink to a certain extent, the rigidity will increase, and it will not be easy to bend as a whole, so as to facilitate advancement.

As the endoscope continues to deepen, the environment in the cavity will become narrow and crowded, and the resistance will gradually increase. At this time, pushing becomes difficult.

As shown in Figure 22, when the operator observes that the space in the front section of the catheter is relatively narrow and difficult to advance through the built-in micro-camera, he can first control the fluid supply part 17 to supply fluid into the balloon part 1, make it inflated and fixed in the balloon part 1. In the cavity, the body cavity space at the front end of the catheter will also increase accordingly. Subsequently, the fluid supply part 17 is controlled to switch the micro-suction cup 12 to a relaxed state, and then, on the one hand, keep the relative fixation between the balloon and the cavity, and on the one hand, continue to push the catheter part 2 . After the first half of the catheter passes through the balloon, stop pushing and control the contraction of the balloon, then manually push the fluid tube 18, and push the balloon part 1 connected to the top back to the front part of the catheter. Finally, control the micro suction cup 12 to return to the adsorption state, and fix the balloon to the front end of the catheter again.

As shown in FIG. 23 , when the operator finds a corner or a fork in front of the endoscope, he can actively control the catheter 2 to bend to reduce the interaction between the endoscope and human tissue.

The specific method is that when the catheter needs to bend in a certain direction, just pull the steering wire connected to the top on the corresponding side (shown by the dotted line in the figure, hereinafter referred to as the top wire), and the pulling of the wire is driven by the micro motor 21 to wind the wire The wheel disk 23 is completed, and the rigidity of the catheter will also increase after being pulled. Subsequently, after the first half of the catheter passes through a corner or a fork, the motor 21 is controlled to loosen the top steel wire, so that the rigidity of the catheter is restored. Due to the soft material, after the steel wire at the top is relaxed to the initial position, the catheter part 2 can still passively maintain the bent state under the action of the cavity.

Similarly, if a certain steering wire (hereinafter referred to as the middle wire) connected to the middle is pulled, the second half of the catheter can also be bent. However, due to the restrictive effect of the first half section, the bending degree of the second half section is limited, and its function is mainly to assist in setting the shape to reduce the propulsion resistance, which will be described in detail below.

It is more complicated than the situation shown in Figure 23. When the endoscope has just passed a certain corner or fork, a new corner or fork will continue to appear ahead. In this case, if the top wire is directly pulled, the overall deformation of the catheter will increase. Due to its interaction with human tissues, especially when the front and rear corners or forks are in opposite directions and the overall travel path is S-shaped, the advancement will be obviously hindered, as shown in Figure 24. At this time, it is necessary to take advantage of the high controllable degree of freedom of the device to independently control the bending of a certain part of the catheter. The specific operation method is as follows:

First, when the catheter passes through a corner or fork, a tensioned top steel wire remains taut and its stiffness remains unchanged. At the same time, control the micro-motor 21 to pull the middle steel wire on the same side in an appropriate amount to make it tight, as shown by the dotted line in Figure 24 . Then, loosen the tight top wire to the initial position, and pull the top wire on the side that needs to be bent next, as shown by the dotted line in Figure 24. Due to the shape-setting effect of the steel wire in the middle, the second half of the catheter can still maintain the previous bending trend, while the front half can bend in a new direction under the action of the top steel wire. Tissue resistance is relatively reduced, and it is easier to carry out. Then, after the front part of the catheter 2 passes through the second corner or fork, the control winding wheel 23 loosens the middle steel wire and the top steel wire successively, so that the catheter 2 recovers softness to continue to advance.

As shown in Figure 25, when the front end of the endoscope reaches the target area (the dotted line area in the figure), the operator may need to further fine-tune the operation in a certain area. At this time, only pulling the steering wire can no longer meet the requirements of precise control.

In order to improve the control accuracy, the micro-suction cup 12 in the balloon part 1 can be loosened, and then the fluid tube 18 can be manually pulled, and the balloon part 1 connected to the top can be moved back a short distance along the catheter. Subsequently, the fluid supply part 17 is controlled to respectively inflate the balloon part and absorb the micro-suction cup. After the balloon is inflated, it will be relatively fixed to the cavity, and the suction cup will be absorbed to make the catheter and the balloon relatively fixed. At this time, if the steering wire fixed on the top is pulled (as shown by the dotted line in Figure 25), only a small part of the catheter located in front of the balloon can be bent and deformed, which is equivalent to the curved part of the top of a traditional speculum. In addition, since the balloon part 1 is fixed in the cavity like a base, the flexible catheter at the front end of the balloon is less likely to move and twist than the curved part of the traditional endoscope, and the position and posture are easier to control, which improves the control accuracy.

Specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and those skilled in the art may make various changes or modifications within the scope of the claims, which do not affect the essence of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. the soft endoscope robot of a variable rigidity, comprise parts of vessels, driver part, fluid supply part and balloon member, wherein, one end of described parts of vessels is connected with driver part, described balloon member is arranged on the free-ended end of parts of vessels, and described fluid supply part uses pipe to be connected with balloon member by fluid; It is characterized in that, described parts of vessels is made up of soft silica gel, and its inside is provided with embedded rope yarn and hard fixed knot, and the first end of described embedded rope yarn is connected with hard fixed knot, and the second end of described embedded rope yarn is fixedly connected with driver part;

Described balloon member is hollow structure, and it is removably mounted on parts of vessels, and can move along parts of vessels outer peripheral face; Described balloon member comprises swell-shrink parts, the two ends of described swell-shrink parts are provided with fixed part, the sucker fluid passage that is provided with the sacculus fluid passage of axial setting in described balloon member sidewall and radially arranges, the embedded shaping mechanism of front end of described balloon member, described balloon member is being embedded with Acetabula device with parts of vessels touching position.

2. the soft endoscope robot of variable rigidity according to claim 1, is characterized in that, described parts of vessels inside is provided with service aisle and several turn to passage, and wherein, described service aisle is positioned at centre, and axially runs through whole parts of vessels; The described passage that turns to is distributed in service aisle outside radially, and for placing embedded rope yarn, described hard fixed knot is several, and one of them is embedded in position, parts of vessels top, and all the other are arranged on arbitrarily the diverse location of parts of vessels inside; The quantity of the quantity of described embedded rope yarn and hard fixed knot is suitable.

3. the soft endoscope robot of variable rigidity according to claim 2, is characterized in that, described in turn to passage equal angles circle distribution in service aisle outside radially.

4. the soft endoscope robot of variable rigidity according to claim 2, it is characterized in that, described service aisle comprises instrument channel and optical-fibre channel, wherein, the described instrument channel all kinds of instrument tool that are used for planting, the embedded minisize pick-up head of described optical-fibre channel, its top is provided with illuminace component, and its end is connected with image collecting device; Described hard fixed knot is ring-type, and described instrument channel and optical-fibre channel are passed from the central through hole of hard fixed knot; The described passage that turns to comprises that top turns to passage and middle part to turn to passage, and described top turns to passage and middle part to turn to passage equal angles circle distribution in parts of vessels inside.

5. the soft endoscope robot of variable rigidity according to claim 1, it is characterized in that, described driver part comprises leading screw base, screw slider, micromachine, coiling wheel disc, advances base and conduit fixture, wherein, described micromachine is fixed on and advances on base, and described propelling base is relative with screw slider fixing; Described conduit fixture contacts with advancing base, its contact portion be provided with for embedded rope yarn and fluid use pipe through aperture; Described leading screw base is by the driven by motor screw rod control screw slider rectilinear motion of its positioned inside; The second end of described embedded rope yarn is fixedly connected with coiling plate wheel, and described micromachine completes the folding and unfolding to embedded rope yarn by the drive wheel disc that winds the line.

6. the soft endoscope robot of variable rigidity according to claim 1, it is characterized in that, described fluid supply part comprises sacculus supply structure and sucker supply structure, described sacculus supply structure all uses pipe to be connected with balloon member by fluid with sucker supply structure, expands and shrinks for controlling balloon member.

7. according to the soft endoscope robot of the variable rigidity described in any one in claim 1 to 6, it is characterized in that, between described parts of vessels end and balloon member, be provided with for preventing that balloon member from departing from the position limiting structure of parts of vessels.

8. according to the soft endoscope robot of the variable rigidity described in any one in claim 1 to 6, it is characterized in that, arbitrary described embedded rope yarn outer surface is provided with the soft silica gel tubule of one deck for the protection of parts of vessels.

9. the soft endoscope robot of variable rigidity according to claim 7, is characterized in that, arbitrary described embedded rope yarn outer surface is provided with the soft silica gel tubule of one deck for the protection of parts of vessels.