Design and Motion Control of Biomimetic Soft Crawling Robot for GI Tract Inspection

As cases of intestinal diseases increase, the need for gastrointestinal endoscopy has become very common nowadays. However, a major setback for conventional gastrointestinal endoscopy is the discomfort and complications induced by the procedure. This paper proposes a bio-inspired soft pneumatic actuator for active locomotion inside the gastrointestinal tract. The preliminary prototype of size 30 × 40 × 27 mm, comprises of six air chambers aiming to mimic the prograde locomotion of land snails. The Pneumatic Control System is designed to manipulate the six compartments with four air channels to perform a wave motion on the sole of the soft robot. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is an additional function of the control system and allows for further manipulation of the amplitude, the propagation speed, and the wavelength of the pedal wave. Further testing shall be performed on the prototype to examine locomotion capability.