Accessing tubular environment is critical in medicine. For example, gastrointestinal tract related cancers are the leading causes of cancer deaths globally. To diagnose and treat these cancers, clinicians need accessing the gastrointestinal tract, for example, colon and small intestine, which are soft biological tubes. Soft balloon assisted locomotion is one of the promising methods for accessing bio-duct. It has been widely used in enteroscopy and other medical devices. However, the interaction between the balloon and the soft tube is seldom studied, such as the interaction pressure and the anchoring force. In this work, we present the first modeling of the interaction between soft balloon actuators and soft tubular environment. The free inflation model of soft balloon actuators was first presented. Then a constrained inflation model of the soft balloon in a soft tube was established. Finally, the anchoring force model between the soft balloon and the soft tube was developed. On average, the mean error of the predictions in these three models is 0.228 kPa (or 3.14%), 0.56 kPa (or 7.8%), and 0.22 N (or 14.7%), respectively. In the future, these models could be used for guiding balloon-actuator designs by minimizing the interaction pressure while maintaining sufficient anchoring force during the locomotion in soft tubes.

中文翻译：

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用于胃肠检查的软气球状致动器与软管环境相互作用的分析模型

进入管状环境在医学中至关重要。例如，胃肠道相关癌症是全球癌症死亡的主要原因。为了诊断和治疗这些癌症，临床医生需要进入胃肠道，例如结肠和小肠，它们是柔软的生物管。软气球辅助运动是进入生物管道的有前途的方法之一。它已广泛用于肠镜检查和其他医疗器械。然而，很少有人研究球囊与软管之间的相互作用，例如相互作用压力和锚固力。在这项工作中，我们提出了软气球执行器与软管环境之间相互作用的第一个建模。首次提出了软球执行器的自由膨胀模型。然后建立了软管内软球囊的约束充气模型。最后，建立了软球囊与软管之间的锚固力模型。平均而言，这三个模型的预测平均误差分别为 0.228 kPa（或 3.14%）、0.56 kPa（或 7.8%）和 0.22 N（或 14.7%）。将来，这些模型可用于指导球囊致动器设计，方法是在软管中运动期间保持足够的锚固力，同时最大限度地减少相互作用压力。