• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.26 no.8
• /
• pp.1638-1644
• /
• 2002

A novel locomotion using the pneumatic impulsive actuator was proposed for robotic colonoscope. This locomotion showed good moving performance in the environment of rigid pipe, however, the displacement per one impact(step displacement) is greatly reduced due to the low stiffness and high damping characteristics of the colon. Therefore, the modeling technique based on spring and damping system is studied to predict the step displacement and some parametric studies are carried out to investigate main parameters that influence the step displacement of locomotion. Based on simulation result, a new locomotion to control the resistance force is suggested and fabricated. Through the experiment on the colon, the usefulness of modeling technique is confirmed and successful improvement of moving characteristics is achieved.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.10
• /
• pp.194-199
• /
• 2001

In this paper, we propose a new locomotive mechanism using impulsive force for microcapsule-type endoscope. It has the compact size for movement in the colon and actuating mechanisms for hi-directional movement. The actuating mechanism resembles a pneumatic cylinder and consists of body, inertia mass(piston). spring. pneumatic source and calve. When valve is ON, the pneumatic impulsive force between piston and body drives them in two opposite direction. As the air in the body is passed away, the contrary movements are occurred by spring reaction. Therefore, the direction of body's motion is determined by the relative magnitude of two opposite impulsive forces, i.e., pneumatic and spring force. The effect of two impulsive forces can simply be controlled by On-Off time of solenoid valve.