A New Kind of Dual Hemisphere Capsule Robot

To realize interventional diagnosis and treatment of the capsule robots used in some regions of the GI tract with unstructured spacious environment such as esophagus, stomach, colon and etc., a magnetically actuated dual hemisphere capsule robot with convertible active and passive modes is proposed. Interconversion between active and passive modes of a dual hemisphere capsule robot can be realized by a spatial universal rotating magnetic vector, the robot manipulates the orientation adjusting of the device hoveringly over the downside hemisphere in the passive mode and rolling locomotion for climbing in the active mode. Conversion mechanism between active and passive modes is investigated, magnetic dynamics model for adjusting the orientation of the device hoveringly over the downside hemisphere in the passive mode and the rolling locomotion for climbing in the active mode are derived in this paper, the stability condition for adjusting the orientation hoveringly is determined, the experiments have shown that the hovering orientation adjustment for panoramic observation in the passive mode and the rolling locomotion of the device in the active mode along the curving GI tract can be realized stably. The breakthrough of the key technology, which can separate the hovering orientation adjustment mode from the rolling locomotion mode of the device, will form a medical capsule robot system with integrated functions such as inspecting and medical treatment as to lay a foundation for all-over inspection and medical operation inside the GI tract of human body.