A Capsule-Type Device for Soft Tissue Cutting Using a Threadless Ballscrew Actuator

Abstract

this paper presents a design for a tissue-sampling capsule robot, which consists of a small-scale gripper mechanism for performing tissue cuts, a novel assembly of three cone-shaped gripper structures that can hold the required amount of tissue sample. It implements a new method of linear ballscrew actuator to provide folding and unfolding motions of the gripper. Successful sets of experiments conducted on the gripper system have shown the new ballscrew mechanism was efficient to provide rotary-to-linear motion conversion and actuate the gripper. The gripper has successfully retracted 3 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> of gel, similar to soft tissue, at 3.1 mm/s and a force of 1350 mN. These results can lead to further investigations in the design of advanced systems for invivo medical devices, minimally invasive surgery, and, specifically, for capsule robots.