Performance evaluation of the wireless micro robot in the fluid

Abstract

The capsule robot is one of important development direction in the field of wireless micro robot in-pipe and it is becoming a powerful tool for gastrointestinal tract inspection. In this paper, we proposed the symmetrical spiral micro robot with gravity compensation mechanism and then analysed the buoyancy and resistance of the robot in the fluid. Finally, we carried on the performance evaluation experiments of the robot in the fluid. The experimental results indicated that the micro robot has a good dynamic performance when the flow is about 26ml/min, compared to other flow value. In the horizontal direction the maximum velocity of the robot is about 30.44mm/s and 6.49mm/s in the case of downstream and counter current respectively. In the vertical direction the maximum velocity of the robot is about 10.1mm/s and 1.34mm/s in the case of downstream and counter current respectively while it is doing upward movement. In the vertical direction the maximum velocity of the micro robot is about 10.11mm/s and 1.337mm/s in the case of downstream and counter current respectively while it is doing downward movement. In addition, the flow has influence on transition frequency of the micro robot. The faster flow is, the lower transition frequency of the micro robot has. The experimental platform we set up can reflect the conditions of human gastrointestinal tract, so the performance evaluation of the micro robot in this paper will provide a strong support for the future clinical application.