A Novel Methodology for Comprehensive Modeling of the Kinetic Behavior of Steerable Catheters

This paper presents a novel methodology for building a kinetic model for steerable catheters by capturing the nonlinearity of the steerable catheter, the flexibility of the pathway, and the contact and friction between the pathway and the moving catheter. The planar catheter system was used to illustrate the methodology. An experiment was conducted to validate the model along with the friction model. The experimental result and model-predicted result have a good agreement in both displacement and force of the distal tip of the catheter along with the input force. The experiment also shows that the LuGre friction model is most accurate. The methodology is thus applicable to modeling specific catheter-pathway systems. The kinetic model of the steerable catheter is useful to 1) design and for evaluation of new steerable catheters and 2) planning of catheter-based operations. Furthermore, the methodology has a generalized implication to other systems such as colonoscopy systems.