Page 394 - Flexible Robotics in Medicine

Robotic transluminal Pan-and-Tilt Scope 387

frontal area of the nasopharynx. In order to cover the entire nasopharyngeal region, a
panning mechanism (also known as a rotation mechanism) is coupled with the tilting
mechanism, enabling the subject to view the upper or lower part of the nasopharynx.
Faced with an aging population, the incidence of NPC will become more prevalent, and
thus there is a need to continuously improve on the current state of the art, so that the
diagnosis of relapsed NPC can be efficient and convenient. Our P.A.T.S aims to tackle
the heart of this problem and assists subjects with the surveillance of the nasopharynx
after primary treatment, by coming up with a novel and innovative design that
improvises the current rigid nasopharygoscopes.
There are a few key areas of possible improvements for better performance of the device.
Firstly, the camera holder can be secured with stronger pins. Secondly, welding of the two
rotation wires can be performed for a stronger connection, or a flexible shaft can be used
instead. In terms of material use, stainless steel is proposed to be used for the tip and wires,
as it has suitable mechanical properties, while nitinol is proposed to be used as the sheath
due to its flexibility. The manufacturing of P.A.T.S will be done with materials that are
more stable and biocompatible. The material used for the tip and camera holder will be
replaced with medical grade stainless steel 316L, as it is corrosion-resistant, biocompatible,
and have excellent mechanical strength. The diameter of the device will be able to reduce
with a better fabrication method to achieve the desired size of 3.0 4.0 mm like that of the
current state of the art. The future will mark out several points on the tube to allow the
subjects to lock the tube at these positions for active surveillance of the nasopharynx
region.

Acknowledgment

This work was in part supported by the National Key Research and Development Program, The Ministry of
Science and Technology (MOST) of China (No. 2018YFB1307703).

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