A Compact Control Unit for a Pneumatic Soft Colonoscope

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer death worldwide. A regular screening of the asymptomatic population can drastically reduce the cancer mortality. Colonoscopy remains the gold standard procedure, however, it causes pain, discomfort and it is expensive. The procedure is difficult and requires a long training for a colonoscopist to become proficient. A robotic soft colonoscope can provide an alternative solution to the current procedure because of the reduced pressure applied to the colonic wall that can potentially avoid pain and discomfort. The low production cost of soft devices can make the procedure cost effective. The control of a pneumatic system is usually implemented by using off-the shelf components. This typology of design is often bulky, may be noisy, and expensive. This work presents a wireless and compact hardware to control a soft pneumatic colonoscope. The hardware includes a low-level PID pressure controllers for each pneumatic chamber, a Bluetooth communication module, and a high-level controller implemented in MATLAB(r) Simulink to easily test different locomotion strategies.