To address the issues that arise due to the manual navigation of guidewires in endovascular interventions, research in medical robotics has taken a strong interest in developing robotically steerable guidewires, which offer the possibility of enhanced maneuverability and navigation, as the tip of the guidewire can be actively steered. The COaxially Aligned STeerable (COAST) guidewire robot has the ability to generate a wide variety of motions including bending motion with different bending lengths, follow-the-leader motion, and feedforward motion. In our past studies, we have explored different designs of the COAST guidewire robot and developed modeling, control, and sensing strategies for the COAST guidewire robot. In this study, the performance of a modified COAST guidewire robot is evaluated by conducting navigation experiments in an anatomical phantom model with pulsatile flow. The modified COAST guidewire robot is a simplified version of the COAST guidewire robot and consists of two tubes as opposed to three tubes. Through this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the modified COAST guidewire robot in navigating the tortuous phantom vasculature.

翻译：为应对血管内介入手术中手动操作导丝所引发的问题，医疗机器人研究高度关注机器人可操控导丝的研发，此类导丝通过主动控制尖端转向，有望提升操作灵活性与导航能力。同轴对准可操控（COAST）导丝机器人能够实现多种运动模式，包括不同弯曲长度的弯转运动、跟随引导运动及前馈运动。在既往研究中，我们探索了COAST导丝机器人的不同设计，并建立了其建模、控制与传感策略。本研究通过在具有脉动流的解剖体模中进行导航实验，评估改进型COAST导丝机器人的性能。改进型COAST导丝机器人是原结构的简化版本，采用双管设计而非三管结构。本研究验证了改进型COAST导丝机器人在复杂体模血管路径中导航的有效性。