Special Robotic Stylet for Assisting Endotracheal Intubation Based on Multisegment Continuum Mechanism

Endotracheal intubation (ETI) is a critical procedure in anesthesia and emergency medicine, which requires professional personnel for operations and has a high risk of occupational exposure. Herein, a special robotic stylet is developed based on a multisegment continuum mechanism for specialized assisting ETI, which needs to be inserted into the endotracheal tube and bends the tube to accommodate the airway lumen during insertion. Geometric parameters of the ETI route are measured, and design requirements of the robot are clarified based on medical images. Kinematic models which reflect the motion coupling of multisegment bending are derived. A prototype is designed and fabricated. Five bending phases of three segments are designed for kinematic validation, and results illustrate that the kinematic models present the same features with actual motions of the robotic stylet captured by optical tracking system. An airway model is built based on medical images and a simulated ETI experiment is conducted. Accomplishing this experiment, the design concept of the robotic stylet is approved, which is bending the tube by the multisegment continuum mechanism for guiding the ETI procedure. This study significantly contributes to specialized robot-aided ETI system, which can strengthen accurate, timely, and safe ETI in anesthesia and emergency treatment.