Addisu Z. Taddese

Systematic Design of Medical Capsule Robots

Medical capsule robots that navigate inside the body as diagnostic and interventional tools are an emerging and challenging research area within medical CPSs. These robots must provide locomotion, sensing, actuation, and communication within severe size, power, and computational constraints. This paper presents the first effort for an open architecture, platform design, software infrastructure, and a supporting modular design environment for medical capsule robots to further this research area.

Closed Loop Control of a Tethered Magnetic Capsule Endoscope

Magnetic field gradients have repeatedly been shown to be the most feasible mechanism for gastrointestinal capsule endoscope actuation. An inverse quartic magnetic force variation with distance results in large force gradients induced by small movements of a driving magnet; this necessitates robotic actuation of magnets to implement stable control of the device. A typical system consists of a serial robot with a permanent magnet at its end effector that actuates a capsule with an embedded permanent magnet. We present a tethered capsule system where a capsule with an embedded magnet is closed loop controlled in 2 degree-of-freedom in position and 2 degree-of-freedom in orientation. Capitalizing on the magnetic field of the external driving permanent magnet, the capsule is localized in 6-D allowing for both position and orientation feedback to be used in a control scheme. We developed a relationship between the serial robots joint parameters and the magnetic force and torque that is exerted onto the capsule. Our methodology was validated both in a dynamic simulation environment where a custom plug-in for magnetic interaction was written, as well as on an experimental platform. The tethered capsule was demonstrated to follow desired trajectories in both position and orientation with accuracy that is acceptable for colonoscopy.

Nonholonomic closed-loop velocity control of a soft-tethered magnetic capsule endoscope

In this paper, we demonstrate velocity-level closed-loop control of a tethered magnetic capsule endoscope that is actuated via serial manipulator with a permanent magnet at its end-effector. Closed-loop control (2 degrees-of-freedom in position, and 2 in orientation) is made possible with the use of a real-time magnetic localization algorithm that utilizes the actuating magnetic field and thus does not require additional hardware. Velocity control is implemented to create smooth motion that is clinically necessary for colorectal cancer diagnostics. Our control algorithm generates a spline that passes through a set of input points that roughly defines the shape of the desired trajectory. The velocity controller acts in the tangential direction to the path, while a secondary position controller enforces a nonholonomic constraint on capsule motion. A soft nonholonomic constraint is naturally imposed by the lumen while we enforce a strict constraint for both more accurate estimation of tether disturbance and hypothesized intuitiveness for a clinicians teleoperation. An integrating disturbance force estimation control term is introduced to predict the disturbance of the tether. This paper presents the theoretical formulations and experimental validation of our methodology. Results show the systems ability to achieve a repeatable velocity step response with low steady-state error as well as ability of the tethered capsule to maneuver around a bend.

Toward rapid prototyping of miniature Capsule Robots

Minimally invasive robotic surgery techniques are becoming popular thanks to their enhanced patient benefits, including shorter recovery time, better cosmetic results and reduced discomforts. Less invasive procedures would be achieved with the use of Medical Capsule Robots (MCRs). These devices are characterized by low power requirements and small dimensions as well as uncompromising safety. MCRs operate wirelessly in abdominal Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) and Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) or in the Gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The design process of MCRs, however, is expensive and time consuming. A platform for rapid prototyping MCRs is needed so that MCR researchers can reduce development costs and spend more time in studying innovative MCR applications. In this work, we introduce an open source modular platform geared toward rapid prototyping MCRs. To speed up the prototyping process, the MCR is programmed using TinyOS instead of bare-bone C. We present the hardware architecture of the platform, and the motivation for using TinyOS. To show the viability of TinyOS, we present results from an experiment involving sensing, actuation and wireless communication. This work lays the foundation for our future goal of building an integrated design environment for the design, analysis and simulation of MCRs.

Web-based integrated development environment for event-driven applications

Event-driven programming is a popular methodology for the development of resource-constrained embedded systems. While it is a natural abstraction for applications that interface with the physical world, the disadvantage is that the control flow of a program is hidden in the maze of event handlers and call-back functions. TinyOS is a representative event-driven operating system, designed for wireless sensor networks, featuring a component-based architecture that promotes code reuse. In this paper, we present a web-based model-driven graphical design environment for TinyOS that visualizes the component hierarchy of an application, and captures its event-based scheduling mechanism. In contrast with existing visual environments, our representation explicitly captures the control flow of the application through events and commands, which makes it easier to understand the program logic than studying the source code. The design environment supports two-way code generation: mapping the visual representation to TinyOS source code, as well as building visual models from existing sources.

Enhanced real-time pose estimation for closed-loop robotic manipulation of magnetically actuated capsule endoscopes

Pose estimation methods for robotically guided magnetic actuation of capsule endoscopes have recently enabled trajectory following and automation of repetitive endoscopic maneuvers. However, these methods face significant challenges in their path to clinical adoption including the presence of regions of magnetic field singularity, where the accuracy of the system degrades, and the need for accurate initialization of the capsule’s pose. In particular, the singularity problem exists for any pose estimation method that utilizes a single source of magnetic field if the method does not rely on the motion of the magnet to obtain multiple measurements from different vantage points. We analyze the workspace of such pose estimation methods with the use of the point-dipole magnetic field model and show that singular regions exist in areas where the capsule is nominally located during magnetic actuation. As the dipole model can approximate most magnetic field sources, the problem discussed herein pertains to a wider set of pose estimation techniques. We then propose a novel hybrid approach employing static and time-varying magnetic field sources and show that this system has no regions of singularity. The proposed system was experimentally validated for accuracy, workspace size, update rate, and performance in regions of magnetic singularity. The system performed as well or better than prior pose estimation methods without requiring accurate initialization and was robust to magnetic singularity. Experimental demonstration of closed-loop control of a tethered magnetic device utilizing the developed pose estimation technique is provided to ascertain its suitability for robotically guided capsule endoscopy. Hence, advances in closed-loop control and intelligent automation of magnetically actuated capsule endoscopes can be further pursued toward clinical realization by employing this pose estimation system.

Towards Recovering a Lost Degree of Freedom in Magnet-Driven Robotic Capsule Endoscopy

Flexible endoscopy, a procedure during which an operator pushes a semi-rigid endoscope through a patient’s gastrointestinal tract, has been the gold-standard screening method for colon cancer screening (colonoscopy) for over 50 years. Owing to the large amounts of tissue stress that result from the need for transmitting a force to the tip of the endoscope while the device wraps through the bowel, implementing a front-actuated endoscopy system has been a popular area of research [1]. The pursuit of such a concept was accelerated by the advent of ingestible capsule endoscopes, which, since then, have been augmented by researchers to include therapeutic capabilities, modalities for maneuverability, amongst other diagnostic functions [2]. One of the more common approaches investigated has been the use of magnetic fields to apply forces and torques to steer the tip of an endoscope [3]. Recent efforts in magnetic actuation have resulted in the use of robot manipulators with permanent magnets at their end effectors that are used to manipulate endoscopes with embedded permanent magnets. Recently, we implemented closed loop control of a tethered magnetic capsule by using real-time magnetic localization and the linearization of a magnetic wrench applied to the capsule by the actuating magnet [4]. This control was implemented in 2 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) in position (in the horizontal plane) and 2 DoF in orientation (panning and tilting). One DoF in position is lost owing to the tethered capsule being actuated in air and thus lacking a restoring force to counter the high field gradient. The 3rd orientation DoF is lost owing to the axial symmetry of the permanent magnet in the capsule; this prevents the application of torque in the axial direction and thus controlled roll and introduces a singularity in the capsule’s actuation. Although another dipole could be used to eliminate this singularity, this would complicate both the actuation and localization methods. In this manuscript, we consider the consequences of the embedded magnet (EM) being radially offset from the center of the capsule while being manipulated by an external actuating magnet (AM).We have developed a tethered capsule endoscope that contains a cylindrical EM (11.11 mm in length and diameter) with a residual flux density of 1.48 T that is offset by 1.85 mm from the center of the capsule; a distance that is less than 10% of the capsule diameter. Our investigation into the topic results from repeated observation of the capsule’s preference to align such that the internal magnet is closest to the actuating magnet (AM). The AM is a cylindrical magnet (101.6 mm in length and diameter) with a residual flux density of 1.48 T that is mounted at the end effector of a 6 DoF manipulator, as seen in Figure 1. In this manuscript, we evaluate the torqueing effects of the presence of this magnet offset with the goal of determining whether the torque effect is negligible, or impacts capsule motion and thus can potentially be used for the benefit of endoscope manipulation. A concept schematic of this effect is shown in Figure 2. A discussion of how to use this torque is beyond the scope of this manuscript. To the authors’ knowledge, the use of such concept in permanent-magnet based control has not been investigated.

A modular software architecture for miniature capsule robots based on TinyOS

Minimally invasive surgical techniques are becoming popular due to their enhanced patient benefits. Less invasive procedures can be achieved with the use of wireless Medical Capsule Robots (MCRs). MCRs are low powered and small in size and can be used for physiological parameter monitoring, therapy delivery, and biopsy sampling. Designing MCRs from the ground up is a costly and time consuming process. In this work, we present a flexible modular architecture to facilitate the design of MCRs and propose using TinyOS as the operating system. To assess the architecture and validate the feasibility of TinyOS, we implement a closed-loop control of a sensor-actuator system and compare the results with a traditional MCR built based on an 8051 microcontroller (MCU) programmed in plain C. Similar performances from the two approaches lead us to conclude that TinyOS is a valid option to implement a modular architecture for designing MCRs.