Pressure pulse driven method for precise bending control of hydraulic active catheter

We aimed to develop an active catheter that could be used safely in human blood vessels. We proposed and developed a micro valve for a water pressure-driven system with multi-degrees of freedom, to produce an active catheter that is compact and not driven electrically. In this paper, we proposed a new control method that uses pressure pulses to bend the active segment precisely. We designed the new valve to achieve this control method and experimentally verified the precise bending motion and simultaneous drive of two active segments.