Bending Actuation of Ferromagnetic Soft Continuum Robot under Spatially non-uniform Magnetic Fields

Cardiovascular disease seriously affects the health and life quality of human being in nowadays society. In this paper, a new type of ferromagnetic soft continuum robot (FSCR) is devised to realize the flexible maneuver in the blood vessel to treat cardiovascular disease. Its bending actuation performance is studied under the various distance between the robot and a spherical permanent magnet, which generates non-uniform magnetic field, and the different length-diameter ratios of the FSCR. Its bending is calculated respectively by the finite difference (FD) method and the finite element (FE) method. The simulation results of the FD method well agree with the FE method. The workspace of the FSCR is analyzed as well. Consequently, an optimal design and control scheme is established for the FSCR.

I. Introduction

Due to the aging of society, the aggravation of people's unhealthy living habits and family inheritance, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has seriously affected the health of human beings in nowadays society [1]. For the treatment of CVD, magnetic catheter navigation systems have been developed, which can safely and precisely complete tasks such as inspection, drug administration, diagnosis and surgery [2]–[4]. An external magnetic field bends the end tip of magnetic catheter robot (MCR), and the feeding device controls the advancement or retraction of MCR in minimally invasive surgery [5] [6]. Compared with traditional minimally invasive surgery, MCR has the advantages of faster and more precise actuation and steering, reducing the risk of vascular puncture [7].