Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancers and is often diagnosed by performing biopsies with the use of a bronchoscope. However, this diagnostic procedure is limited in ability to explore deep into the periphery of the lung where cancer can remain undetected. In this study, we present design, modeling, fabrication, and testing of a one degree of freedom soft robot with integrated diagnostic and interventional capabilities as well as vision sensing. The robot can be deployed through the working channel of commercial bronchoscopes or used as a stand-alone system as it integrates a micro camera to provide vision sensing and controls to the periphery of the lung. The small diameter (2.4 mm) of the device allows navigation in branches deeper in the lung, where current devices have limited reachability. We have performed mechanical characterizations of the robotic platform, including blocked force, maximum bending angle, maximum angular velocity, and workspace, and assessed its performance in in vitro and ex vivo experiments. We have developed a computer vision algorithm, and validated it in in vitro conditions, to autonomously align the robot to a selected branch of the lung and aid the clinician (by means of a graphical user interface) during navigation tasks and to perform robot-assisted stabilization in front of a lesion, with automated tracking and alignment.

中文翻译：

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一种用于周边肺癌诊治的软体机器人

肺癌是最致命的癌症之一，通常通过使用支气管镜进行活检来诊断。然而，这种诊断程序在深入探索无法检测到癌症的肺部外围的能力方面受到限制。在这项研究中，我们介绍了具有集成诊断和干预能力以及视觉传感的单自由度软机器人的设计、建模、制造和测试。该机器人可以通过商用支气管镜的工作通道进行部署，也可以作为独立系统使用，因为它集成了微型摄像头，为肺部周边提供视觉感应和控制。该设备的小直径（2.4 毫米）允许在肺部更深处的分支中导航，而当前设备的可达性有限。体外和离体实验。我们开发了一种计算机视觉算法，并在体外条件下对其进行了验证，以自动将机器人对准选定的肺分支，并在导航任务期间帮助临床医生（通过图形用户界面）并执行机器人辅助在病灶前稳定，具有自动跟踪和对齐功能。