Page 328 - Flexible Robotics in Medicine

318 Chapter 13
Table 13.5: Selected devices for metrics benchmarking.

Metric Need Machida
no. no. Metric Importance Unit BEE ENTity SD ENT ENF-P3
1 1, 2 Bending of 1 Degrees 76 85 75 80 85

flexible tip
for wide
viewing
angle
2 3, 5 Small 1 mm 6 2.7 2 4 3.6
diameter of
shaft
3 3, 4, Speed of 2 mm/s (Data operated by operated by operated by
5, 7 insertion unavailable clinicians clinicians clinicians
into nasal without
cavity to be further
controllable testing)
4 3, 4, Speed of 2 Degrees/ (Data (operated (operated operated by
5, 7 bending of s unavailable by by clinicians
the flexible without clinicians) clinicians)
tip to be further
controllable testing)
5 4, 7 User- 3 Yes/No Yes operated by operated by operated by
enabled, clinicians clinicians clinicians
automated
control for
the device
6 7, 8 Durable 3 MPa 393.3 (Data (Data (Data
with fatigue unavailable unavailable unavailable
strength without without without
and life further) further further
testing) testing)
7 5, 6 Sterility 2 SAL (Data (Data (Data (Data
unavailable unavailable) unavailable) unavailable)
without
further
testing)
Data about the three market devices are taken from their official websites.

The existing method for monitoring and assessing the NPC condition is to ask the patient to
return for follow-ups or check-ups. Comparable devices exist in clinical settings are the
ENTity SD by Optim LLC, the Machida ENT, and the ENF-P3 by Olympus. They are all
flexible endoscopes with a camera incorporated. Although all three devices have a wide
viewing angle, slim shafts, and exceptional imaging capabilities, all of them need a
thorough setup process and are only available for use in clinical settings.
Since there are many available flexible endoscopes that have small shaft diameters that
alleviate the discomfort, BEE must be comparable in terms of shaft diameters too. Hence,