An active endoscope with small sweep volume that preserves image orientation for arthroscopic surgery

Microsurgery is generally performed in narrow spaces with limited movement. Endoscopes that allow for angle changes have been developed using elastic materials, but they require a large bending space. We propose a new endoscope with a small sweep volume for angle changes.

We fabricated a prototype with a thumb-operated joystick. The image sensor is attached to the tooltip. The image signal is input to a motor control board which computes inverse kinematics and transforms it into joint angle values. Each axis is positioned according to these values.

The tooltip sweeping volume was 104 mm³ . Surgeons at the Asan Medical Center used our endoscope to obtain images of the biceps tendon and subscapularis joints of a cadaver.

Currently, a low-resolution image sensor is attached to endoscope tooltips. In the future, we will develop a high-resolution image module equipped with an ultra-small complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor.