Robotic Control of a Multi-Modal Rigid Endoscope Combining Optical Imaging with All-Optical Ultrasound

Fetoscopy is a technically challenging surgery, due to the dynamic environment and low diameter endoscopes often resulting in a limited field of view. In this paper, we report on the design and operation of a robotic multimodal endoscope with optical ultrasound and white light stereo camera. The manufacture and control of the endoscope is presented, along with large area (80 mm ×80 mm) surface visualisations of a placenta phantom using the optical ultrasound sensor. The repeatability of the surface visualisations was found to be 0. 446 ± 0.139 mm and 0. 267 ± 0.017 mm for a raster and spiral scan, respectively.