Page 483 - Flexible Robotics in Medicine

OmniFlex: omnidirectional flexible hand-held endoscopic manipulator with spheroidal joint 477

Figure 21.1
Omniflex prototype realization and design. (A) CAD of the OmniFlex consisting of the casing,
proximal tip, and the proximal disc design. (B) The OmniFlex prototype (top) consists of three
main parts, proximal control end, distal slave end, and transmission tube. The proximal end
(bottom left) has four driving rods connected, and a fifth rod controls the opening and closing of
the forceps jaws. The proximal end (bottom right) shows the three of the four driving cables and
the fifth cable (in the lumen of the spring), which controls the jaws.

21.2 System design and fabrication

The proposed biopsy forceps design integrates the tendon-driven mechanism of the current
endoscopic manipulator with certain modifications to make it omnidirectional. The biopsy
forceps consist of four main components: a proximal control, a long flexible tension spring