Conception de robots à tubes concentriques et application à l'inspection des cellules olfactives

Abstract

This PhD thesis is part of the ANR NEMRO project, whose goal is to study the hypothetical correlation between olfactory deficiency and neurodegenerative diseases. For this purpose, an optical biopsy of the olfactory epithelium must be performed. However, this area is not accessible today with conventional tools. To go beyond this limitation, we propose to investigate the use a concentric tube robot (CTR). Its synthesis is performed from medical images. It takes into account the stability criteria, inter-subject variability, and is associated to a FTL (Follow-The-Leader) deployment. As the device is mounted on the subject, it has to be compact and lightweight. Thus, a specific deployment sequence simplifies the actuation unit, and an implementation is proposed using multimaterial additive manufacturing. Preliminary evaluations of the FTL deployment capabilities and the key components of the device allowed to validate the approach chosen for the NEMRO project, and its feasibility.