Soft Robotic Gastroscope for Low/Middle-Income Countries: Design and Preliminary Validation

Abstract

To reduce incidence and mortality, screening of the gastric cavity is crucial to diagnose early-stage cancers. Most cases are concentrated in low/middle-income countries (LMICs), where medical resources are limited. In this paper, we propose a miniaturized, disposable, and low-cost soft robotic gastroscope designed for screening in LMICs. The robotic platform is composed of i) a frontal soft-core module, ii) a flexible multi-lumen tether, and iii) an intuitive control handle, to provide a) a 180 deg bending angle, b) a 360 deg axial rotation, and c) linear movements with a 15 mm fine adjustment. Thanks to a single internal bending chamber, the diameter of the soft-core module and the tether are reduced to 7.2 mm and 4.3 mm, respectively. Mechanical performance, operational functionalities, and clinical dependability were successfully evaluated through in-vitro and ex-vivo experiments. In summary, given i) low-cost (i.e., ~25 USD), ii) low invasiveness, iii) high portability, and iv) intuitive control, the disposable soft gastroscope might have considerable clinical potential for widening gastric cancer screening in LMICs.