By removing the rotating dial of the endoscope, we developed a flexible microrobotic arm system with master-slave mapping control, and preliminarily evaluated its feasibility using a bionic upper gastrointestinal tract model.

A flexible microrobotic arm system with master-slave mapping control, in which drive steel cables are guided to a rear-mounted drive module, was constructed.Six operators with no prior experience in endoscopy or flexible robotic arm manipulation were recruited.Using a gastroscopy training model fabricated with hydrogel and bionic composite materials, the system was employed to perform upper gastrointestinal examinations. The operational performance of the system was compared with that of conventional endoscopy in lesion sampling and snaring tasks.Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 27.

The system successfully completed all simulated diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The learning curve of procedural exploration time showed a declining trend among operators.Paired t-tests revealed no statistically significant differences in the mean time taken for 10 attempts of sampling flat lesions in the gastric antrum between the robotic system (15.19±4.23 s) and conventional endoscopy (15.84±5.19)s, P>0.05.Similarly, no significant differences were observed in the mean time for sampling flat lesions in the gastric body (18.39±3.84)s vs.(19.31±4.05)s, P>0.05 and pedunculated lesions in the gastric body (22.13±2.96)s vs.(22.98±2.00) s, P>0.05.between the two modalities.However, the mean time for 10 attempts of snaring pedunculated gastric lesions was significantly shorter with the robotic system than with conventional endoscopy (33.71±9.84)s vs.(39.62±6.37)s, P<0.05.

The flexible microrobotic arm system with master-slave mapping control demonstrates preliminary feasibility in simulated endoscopic procedures.This study lays a foundation for subsequent in vivo experiments and clinical translation, and provides a novel approach for the intelligent development of digestive endoscopy.