Embedded Flexible Circumferential Sensing for Real-Time Intraoperative Environmental Perception in Continuum Robots

2025-06-22

AI Summary

Continuum robots in minimally invasive surgery suffer from insufficient proprioceptive and environmental sensing capabilities, increasing the risk of unintended tissue contact. To address this, we propose an embedded flexible annular sensing structure integrated circumferentially around the robot’s vertebral disks, enabling low-invasive, high-precision real-time tissue distance estimation and intraluminal environment mapping. Fabricated via flexible printed circuit (FPC) technology, the sensor features a modular design and noise-resilient control strategy, ensuring compatibility with diverse continuum robot architectures. Experimental evaluation demonstrates submillimeter obstacle detection accuracy (0.19 mm), alongside high reliability and cost-effectiveness. This work presents the first tight integration of circumferential distributed flexible sensing with continuum robot structures, significantly enhancing intraoperative situational awareness and procedural safety.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Planning
• Natural Language Processing: Safety and Robustness

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

Continuum robots have been widely adopted in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) because of their compact size and high flexibility. However, their proprioceptive capabilities remain limited, particularly in narrow lumens, where lack of environmental awareness can lead to unintended tissue contact and surgical risks. To address this challenge, this work proposes a flexible annular sensor structure integrated around the vertebral disks of continuum robots. The proposed design enables real-time environmental mapping by estimating the distance between the robotic disks and the surrounding tissue, thereby facilitating safer operation through advanced control strategies. The experiment has proven that its accuracy in obstacle detection can reach 0.19 mm. Fabricated using flexible printed circuit (FPC) technology, the sensor demonstrates a modular and cost-effective design with compact dimensions and low noise interference. Its adaptable parameters allow compatibility with various continuum robot architectures, offering a promising solution for enhancing intraoperative perception and control in surgical robotics.

Problem

• Enhancing proprioceptive capabilities in continuum robots
• Real-time environmental mapping for safer surgical operations
• Modular sensor design for various robot architectures

Innovation

• Flexible annular sensor for real-time environmental mapping
• Modular design using flexible printed circuit technology
• High accuracy obstacle detection reaching 0.19 mm