Patent ID: 7097615

Claim:
An endoscope apparatus comprising: (a) an endoscope portion, comprising an elongated body adapted for insertion into a lumen, said elongated body further comprising (a) a tubular structural member and (b) electrically controlled electroactive polymer actuators that are controllable to impart a desired orientation to said body, wherein a plurality of said actuators are disposed upon a first flexible sheet and wherein a plurality of said actuators are disposed upon a second flexible sheet, and said actuators controlling operation of the endoscope portion based on received control signals, which further comprises: (i) a sensor disposed at a distal end of said endoscope portion and providing endoscope data; (ii) a first wireless transceiver coupled to the sensor and the electronically controlled actuators, transmitting received endoscope data from the sensor and forwarding received control signals to the electronically controlled actuators; and (iii) a portable power source coupled to the sensor, the first wireless transceiver, and the electronically controller actuators; and (b) a control and display unit, which further comprises: (i) a second wireless transceiver coupled via a wireless link to the first transceiver in said endoscope portion and receiving endoscope data from the first transceiver and transmitting control signals to the first transceiver; (ii) a control portion coupled to the second wireless transceiver and sending control signals to the one or more actuators in the endoscope portion via said first and second wireless transceivers; and (iii) a display portion that displays information received from said sensor via said first and second wireless transceivers.