Magnetic Tentacle Robot Developed for Easier Bronchial Tree Observations and Lung Operations

A new scientific collaboration produced a concept that could assist specialists performing operations on lung patients. The robotic innovation can get into even the smallest bronchial tubes in the human lung organs.

The robot is equipped with arms similar to tentacles, which have the skills to extract tissue samples and even deliver therapeutic solutions for cancer.

Problem of Lung Treatments and Analysis

(Photo: University of Leeds)
The image shows a model of part of a human bronchial tree alongside a section of the robot.

The magnetic tentacle robot has a size comparable to twice of a ballpoint pen tip, scaling just two millimeters in diameter. Specialized magnets outside of a patient's body serve as a guide that could maneuver the tiny tentacles into target areas.

The development of the magnetic tentacle robot was made possible through the help of clinicians, scientists, and engineers from the University of Leeds' STORM Laboratory. The research focuses on constructing a robotic system for treatment solutions, particularly in catheter procedures and endoscopy, in which a fine tube is inserted into the body.

The concept was based on the data collected from a series of tests that included 3D replicas of the internal lung organ, specifically the anatomical structure of the bronchial tree. Expected follow-up studies will examine the instrument's efficacy over the navigation of a real-life lung organ that was collected from a cadaver, ScienceDaily reports.

In the current field of clinical procedures, specialists utilize a conventional device called a bronchoscope to perform analysis and other observations involving the lungs and the air passages inside of it. The flexible tube-like instrument enters through the nose or mouth and down the passages on the bronchial tree.

However, the bronchoscope's size poses a common inconvenience during lung observations. Its size, which measures 3.5 to 4 millimeters in diameter, hinders further device insertion to other levels of the bronchial tree. This problem requires the bronchoscope to be assisted with a 2-millimeter fine tube or catheter to travel more in different regions of the lungs.

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The complicated procedure poses another conundrum to doctors because deeper insertion limits the movement of the bronchoscope through areas where the instrument and the catheters are needed.

Magnetic Tentacle Robot by University of Leeds

The new study conceptualized a more flexible device in the form of the magnetic tentacle robot to answer this problem. Through the use of the tiny-tubed machine, experts will have a perfect robotic guidance system that could also be configured depending on the operation's difficulty and the patient's state.

University of Leeds' STORM Lab director and School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering expert Pietro Valdastri, who also led the research, explained that magnetic tentacle robot effectively serves as a catheter with only 2 millimeters of size and can be magnetically controlled from outside the patient's organs to move around the bronchial anatomy as well as other parts of the lungs.

The magnetic tentacle robot will be a successful clinical tool in procedures and investigations for possible cases of lung diseases, including lung cancer, Valdastri added.

The study was published in the journal Soft Robotics, titled "Patient-Specific Magnetic Catheters for Atraumatic Autonomous Endoscopy."