Kinematic Modeling of an EAP Actuated Continuum Robot for Active Micro-endoscopy.

International audienceAn active micro-endoscope based on concentric tubes, an emerging class of continuum robots, is presented hereby. It is designed to reach the digestive tube and the stomach for early cancer detection and intervention. The manipulator is constructed from three flexible, telescopic, and actuated tubes. The actuators are based on Electro-Active Polymer electrodes coated and patterned around the tube. A full multi-section kinematic model is developed; it is used to compare the existing constant curvature configuration to the proposed micro-endoscope. That comparison is established according to the reachable workspace and the performance indices. The results are used to prove the effectiveness of the embedded actuation method to reach the workspace more dexterously, which is very useful in medical systems, especially in surgical applications