Abstract：
OBJECTIVE: Continuum manipulators (CMs) show great potential in transoral laryngeal surgery due to their flexibility. However, CMs for transoral surgery face several issues: large size, which reduces practicality; intersegment coupling, which causes undesired deflection; and a lack of versatility that limits their applicability across different patient groups.
METHODS: This work combines a rod-driven proximal segment and a cable-driven distal segment to achieve piecewise stiffness, alleviating the issue of intersegment coupling. A rigid constraint tube is integrated into the proximal segment to diversify its bending behavior. Preliminary experiments are conducted to validate the design concept.
RESULTS: The proposed CM has an overall diameter of only 6.5 mm. The proximal segment can achieve a 90° bending with various curvatures. At the working configuration, the coupling error between the proximal segment and the distal segment is less than 1 mm. The effectiveness of the proposed CM is successfully validated using a human model.
CONCLUSIONS: The proposed continuum manipulator possesses the desirable characteristics of small size, low coupling, and high versatility, indicating its great potentialities for the diagnosis and treatment of laryngeal lesion.
METHODS: This work combines a rod-driven proximal segment and a cable-driven distal segment to achieve piecewise stiffness, alleviating the issue of intersegment coupling. A rigid constraint tube is integrated into the proximal segment to diversify its bending behavior. Preliminary experiments are conducted to validate the design concept.
RESULTS: The proposed CM has an overall diameter of only 6.5 mm. The proximal segment can achieve a 90° bending with various curvatures. At the working configuration, the coupling error between the proximal segment and the distal segment is less than 1 mm. The effectiveness of the proposed CM is successfully validated using a human model.
CONCLUSIONS: The proposed continuum manipulator possesses the desirable characteristics of small size, low coupling, and high versatility, indicating its great potentialities for the diagnosis and treatment of laryngeal lesion.
摘要：
目的：连续操纵器（CMs）由于其灵活性而在经口喉手术中显示出巨大的潜力。然而,经口手术的CM面临几个问题：大尺寸，这降低了实用性；段间耦合，这导致了不希望的偏转；缺乏多功能性，限制了它们在不同患者群体中的适用性。
方法：这项工作结合了杆驱动的近端段和电缆驱动的远端段，以实现分段刚度，缓解段间耦合的问题。刚性约束管集成到近侧段中以使其弯曲行为多样化。进行了初步实验以验证设计概念。
结果：所提出的CM的总直径仅为6.5mm。近侧段可以实现具有各种曲率的90°弯曲。在工作配置中，近端段和远端段之间的耦合误差小于1mm。使用人体模型成功验证了所提出的CM的有效性。
结论：所提出的连续体机械手具有小尺寸的理想特征，低耦合，和高通用性，表明其在喉病变的诊断和治疗中具有巨大的潜力。
方法：这项工作结合了杆驱动的近端段和电缆驱动的远端段，以实现分段刚度，缓解段间耦合的问题。刚性约束管集成到近侧段中以使其弯曲行为多样化。进行了初步实验以验证设计概念。
结果：所提出的CM的总直径仅为6.5mm。近侧段可以实现具有各种曲率的90°弯曲。在工作配置中，近端段和远端段之间的耦合误差小于1mm。使用人体模型成功验证了所提出的CM的有效性。
结论：所提出的连续体机械手具有小尺寸的理想特征，低耦合，和高通用性，表明其在喉病变的诊断和治疗中具有巨大的潜力。
