An Optimized Motion Strategy for the Legless Capsubot Using Non-Linear Optimization

Abstract

Capsubots are miniaturized wireless capsule robots that have been recently proposed for diagnostic purposes in endoscopy. Since the capsubot needs to be swallowed by the patient, the size of the body of the capsubot is of essential importance. The size of the body is partly limited by the size of the battery, which in turn depends on the power consumption of the capsule. In this paper, a strategy is proposed that optimizes the motion of a legless capsubot and allows a large reduction in the power consumption compared to those in the literature. As a result, the size of the capsubot can potentially be reduced to a much smaller size which can be clinically more feasible. Three di?erent pro?les are de?ned and compared for a motion strategy and the step-time and force in each pro?le are optimized. Standard non-linear optimization methods are used to ?nd the optimal motion details. Finally simulations are performed to compare the three pro?les with the previously proposed motion strategies in the literature.