Evans, M. orcid.org/0009-0002-2379-8804, Du, J., Cao, L. et al. (1 more author) (2025) Robotic colonoscopy: can high fidelity simulation optimize robot design and validation? In: 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 19-23 May 2025, Atlanta, GA, USA. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 2954-2960. ISBN: 9798331541408.
Abstract
This paper presents the use of a simulation environment as an accurate, ethical, and sustainable alternative to testing robotic prototypes in animal models and simplified phantom models, specifically developed for robotic colonoscopy devices inside the human colon. A virtual simulation of the locomotion mechanism of a prototype robotic colonoscope and the colon was created in Ansys, and robot/colon experiments were conducted on different colon surfaces to validate simulation results. The successfully simulated propulsion force generated by the prototype produced an RMSE of 7% when compared at the optimal operating condition of the device, and 25-30% when compared to a full range of device velocities. The larger RMSE is due to physical phenomena that were not present in the simulation due to the constraints applied. The simulation, however, allowed evaluation of difficult quantities to measure in a real world setting such as the normal interaction force between the device and tissue wall, and stress distribution across the locomotion mechanism, as well as a phenomenon of oscillating propulsion force resulting from the device design. This work demonstrates feasibility of using finite element simulation to shape the design and optimization of a robotic colonoscope and understands its interaction with complex human anatomy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a paper published in 2025 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Information and Computing Sciences; Human-Centred Computing; Engineering; Bioengineering; Colo-Rectal Cancer; Cancer; Digestive Diseases |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/T517835/1 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 2940227 |
Date Deposited: | 02 Oct 2025 08:24 |
Last Modified: | 02 Oct 2025 08:24 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1109/icra55743.2025.11128805 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:232479 |