Workspace Expansion of Magnetic Soft Continuum Robot Using Movable Opposite Magnet

Recently, in the minimally invasive surgery field, magnetic soft continuum robots (MSCRs) have been actively studied, which are driven by an external magnetic field with a small magnet attached to the tip of the SCR. In addition, MSCR with opposite magnets (MSCR-OMs) has been reported for high dexterity, which has a small permanent magnet attached to the end of the MSCR and an additional opposite magnet fixed in the middle. To overcome the limitations of the existing MSCR and MSCR-OM and improve the workspace, we proposed a magnetic soft continuum robot with a movable opposite magnet (MSCR-MOM) with 2.2 mm diameter and 10 cm length, that can change the position of the opposite magnet. In this study, an analytical model of the proposed MSCR-MOM was presented, and through simulation and various experiments, its characteristics were analyzed and the workspace expansion was validated. In addition, the clinical applicability of the proposed MSCR-MOM was verified through phantom experiments. In the future, we expect that the proposed MSCR-MOM will be developed into a medical catheter that can be applied in various procedures through miniaturization and various clinical application studies.