Endoscope force generation and intrinsic sensing with environmental scaffolding

Endoscopic surgery is an increasingly popular alternative to laparoscopic techniques for many conditions, as the operation site can be reached without skin wounds. In many tasks, sufficient force generation is desired. As endoscopes must be highly flexible and slim, however, the force generation and sensing capabilities associated with these tools is limited due their compliance, significantly hindering the adoption rate of endoscopic surgeries. This paper proposes a technique, termed 'environmental scaffolding', to stabilize an actuated, flexible segment in the intestine such that larger forces can be applied. Through the measurement of actuation forces, a method for intrinsically sensing multiple contact forces when in this configuration is presented. Experimental results show that with the environmental scaffolding technique, the tip force generated can be increased by over 50% on average compared to using the device in a purely cantilevered configuration, and the tip force estimation is accurate to within 2.97%.