The master manipulator is a crucial component in enabling interactive perception between the physician and the guidewire/catheter; however, the lack of real-time haptic feedback increases the difficulty of hand–eye coordination. This paper designed and developed a master manipulator for a vascular interventional surgery robot with haptic feedback to provide the physician with high-accuracy force feedback. Using a two-degree-of-freedom decoupling mechanism combining key transmission and bearings, the master manipulator captured the physician’s push–pull and rotational actions accurately and synchronously. The haptic feedback module adopted dual-channel independent control: axial resistance was generated by three springs evenly distributed at 120° and driven by a linear motor, while circumferential resistance was produced directly by a brushed direct current motor. To enhance the fidelity and accuracy of force feedback, inherent friction within the mechanical structure was identified as a critical non-negligible factor. Consequently, a feedforward compensation strategy grounded in the Stribeck friction model was developed and implemented to proactively counteract friction forces. The performance of the axial force module and the circumferential torque module was evaluated, and the displacement acquisition resolutions reached 1 μm and 0.087 9°, respectively. The average error for axial force feedback was 0.11 N, and that for circumferential torque feedback was 0.154 mN·m. The master manipulator was constructed using a combination of custom 3D-printed photosensitive resin parts and machined aluminum alloy, resulting in a lightweight, low-friction structure. It provides an immersive force-interaction experience for the physician, improving operational precision and radiation safety in vascular interventional surgery and enabling coordinated “vision–hand–force perception”.
In order to seek a patient friendly and low-cost intestinal examination method, a structurally simple pneumatic soft intestinal robot inspired by inchworms is designed and manufactured. The intestinal robot was consisted of two radially expanding cylindrical rubber film airbags for anchoring and one low density polyethylene film airbag for axial elongation, which achieved movement in the intestine by mimicking the crawling of inchworms. Theoretical derivation was conducted on the relationship between the internal air pressure of the anchored airbag and the free deformation size after expansion, and it pointed out that the uneven deformation of the airbag was a phenomenon of expansion instability caused by large deformation of the rubber material. The motion performance of the intestinal robot was validated in different sizes of hard tubes and ex vivo pig small intestine. The running speed in the ex vivo pig small intestine was 4.87 mm/s, with an anchoring force of 2.33 N when stationary, and could smoothly pass through a 90 ° bend. This work expects to provide patients with a new method of low pain and low-cost intestinal examination.