Robotic Assistance to Flexible Endoscopy by Physiological Motion Rejection

Flexible endoscopes are used in many surgical procedures and diagnostic exams, like in gastroscopy or colonoscopy. They have also been used recently for endoscopic surgical procedures using natural orifices (NOTES). Flexible endoscopes allow to access operating areas which are not easily reachable, with one small or no incision. However, their manipulation is complex especially for surgical interventions. In order to help the physicians during interventions, we propose to motorize the flexible endoscope and to partially robotize its movements. This paper explains how the endoscope can be actively stabilized with respect to an area of interest despite physiological motions by using visual servoing and repetitive control. In vivo experiments show the validity of the proposed solution for improving the manipulation of the endoscope.