Robotic artificial intelligence nasal/oral/rectal enteric tube

1 . A system for automated, self-navigating placement of a catheter tube in a respiratory tract of a subject, the system comprising:

the catheter tube comprising:

a tube wall that defines a lumen;

an imaging device configured to capture image data, the imaging device disposed at a distal end of the catheter tube, the imaging device configured to capture the image data from within the respiratory tract in real time;

a spectrometer disposed at the distal end of the catheter tube, the spectrometer configured to capture spectrometer data from within the respiratory tract in real time; and

a transceiver coupled to the imaging device and the spectrometer and configured to wirelessly transmit the captured image data and the captured spectrometer data in real time, the transceiver disposed at the distal end of the catheter tube;

an articulated stylet disposed in the lumen of the catheter tube, the articulated stylet comprising an articulated distal end; and

a robotic control and display center comprising:

wireless communication circuitry that communicates with and receives the captured image data and the captured spectrometer data from the transceiver in real time;

processing circuitry configured to execute at least one artificial intelligence model configured to navigate the respiratory tract without manual input, where the at least one artificial intelligence model:

analyzes the real-time captured image data to identify orifices and structures within the respiratory tract and assigns bounding boxes to the identified orifices and structures,

provides the assigned bounding boxes to a median-flow filtering module configured to predict a motion vector of the articulated stylet using sparse flow,

determines navigation data based on at least one of the captured image data, the assigned bounding boxes, or the predicted motion vector,

outputs the corresponding navigation data to a robotic control engine in real time,

analyzes the real-time captured spectrometer data,

identifies a biomarker to which the capture spectrometer data corresponds, wherein the biomarker is identified based on absorbance and/or percent transmittance of the captured spectrometer data and a corresponding chemical composition of the biomarker, and

displays information related to the biomarker; and

the robotic control engine configured to drive the articulated stylet, without manual guidance, toward a target destination inside the respiratory tract based on the navigation data determined by the artificial intelligence model,

wherein the navigation data comprises instructions to at least one of manipulate, articulate, rotate, or drive the articulated stylet.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device comprises a topographic imaging device, and wherein the captured image data comprises topographic image data.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the imaging device further comprises a visual imaging device, and wherein the captured image data further comprises visual image video data.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device and the transceiver are embedded in the tube wall of the catheter tube, and wherein the catheter tube further comprises:

an insufflating channel embedded in the tube wall of the catheter tube; and

a light source embedded in the tube wall of the catheter tube.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device comprises a time-of-flight imaging device, wherein the captured image data further comprises time-of-flight image data, and wherein the time-of-flight imaging device is configured to capture the time-of-flight image data using multiple wavelengths of light.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to execute a volume sensing module configured to:

obtain volume measurements of an enteral space in which the catheter tube is disposed based on three-dimensional volumetric data generated via a technique selected from the group consisting of: hyperspectral imaging, time of flight imaging, and stereo imaging;

determine, based on the volume measurements, a first volume value corresponding to a total volume of the enteral space;

determine, based on the volume measurements, a second volume value corresponding to a first portion of the total volume that is empty; and

determine, by subtracting the second volume value from the first volume value, a third volume value of a second portion of the total volume that is filled with material.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the robotic control engine is configured to drive the articulated stylet by controlling at least one articulation of the articulated stylet to control a direction of movement of the articulated stylet, the articulated stylet having three degrees of freedom including plunge, rotation, and tip deflection.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one artificial intelligence model comprises:

a detection and tracking model that processes the captured image data in near-real time;

a deep-learning detector configured to analyze the captured image data to identify the orifices and structures within the respiratory tract and assign the bounding boxes to the identified orifices and structures,

wherein the deep-learning detector comprises at least one convolutional-neural-network-based detection algorithm that is trained to learn unified hierarchical representations, that identifies the orifices and structures based on the captured image data, and that calculates the navigation data based on the captured image data and the target destination; and

the median-flow filtering based visual tracking module configured to predict the motion vector of the articulated stylet using sparse optical flow.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device and the transceiver are embedded in the articulated stylet wherein the articulated stylet further comprises:

an insufflating channel embedded in the articulated stylet; and

a light source embedded in the articulated stylet.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the biomarker comprises at least one of sodium, potassium, osmolarity, pH, a medication, a digestive enzyme, a lipid, a fatty acid, blood, or a blood product.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the biomarker is produced by an organ of the subject.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the biomarker is identified without use of a contrast dye or other labeling agent.

13 . A robotic control and display center for use in automated, self-navigating placement of a catheter tube in a respiratory tract of a subject, the robotic control and display center comprising:

wireless communication circuitry that communicates with and receives topographical image data and captured spectrometer data obtained from within the respiratory tract in real-time from a transceiver of the catheter tube in real time,

the catheter tube comprising an articulated stylet disposed in a lumen of the catheter tube;

processing circuitry configured to execute an artificial intelligence model configured to navigate the respiratory tract without manual input, where the artificial intelligence model:

analyzes the real-time captured topographical image data to identify orifices and structures within the respiratory tract and assigns bounding boxes to the identified orifices and structures and a target destination,

provides the assigned bounding boxes to a median-flow filtering module configured to predict a motion vector of the articulated stylet using sparse flow,

determines navigation data based on at least one of the captured image data, the assigned bounding boxes, or the predicted motion vector,

outputs the corresponding navigation data to a robotic control engine in real time,

analyzes the real-time captured spectrometer data,

identifies a biomarker to which the captured spectrometer data corresponds, wherein the biomarker is identified based on absorbance and/or percent transmittance of the captured spectrometer data and a corresponding chemical composition of the biomarker, and

displays information related to the biomarker; and

the robotic control engine configured to automatically and without manual guidance drive the articulated stylet disposed inside the catheter tube toward the target destination inside the respiratory tract based on the navigation data determined by the artificial intelligence model,

wherein the navigation data comprises instructions to at least one of manipulate, articulate, rotate, or drive the articulated stylet.

14 . The robotic control and display center of claim 13 , wherein the robotic control engine is configured to control a direction of movement of the articulated stylet by controlling one or more of plunge, rotation, or deflection of an articulation in a distal end of the articulated stylet.

15 . The robotic control and display center of claim 13 , wherein the spectrometer data corresponds to a substance sampled by a spectrometer of the catheter tube, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute an additional artificial intelligence model that receives the spectrometer data and outputs an identity of the biomarker to which the substance corresponds.

16 . The robotic control and display center of claim 15 , further comprising:

a display device that is configured to display information related to a location and status of the catheter tube and the identity of the biomarker.

17 . A catheter assembly for automated, self-navigating placement of a catheter tube in a respiratory tract of a subject, the catheter assembly comprising:

the catheter tube comprising:

a tube wall that defines a lumen;

an imaging device configured to capture image data, the imaging device disposed at a distal end of the catheter tube, the imaging device configured to capture the image data from within the respiratory tract in real-time;

a spectrometer configured to capture spectrometer data from within the respiratory tract in real time, the spectrometer disposed at the distal end of the catheter tube,

wherein the captured spectrometer data is used to identify a biomarker based on absorbance and/or percent transmittance of the captured spectrometer data and a corresponding chemical composition of the biomarker;

a transceiver coupled to the imaging device and configured to wirelessly transmit the captured image data to a remote computer system in real time, the transceiver being disposed at the distal end of the catheter tube; and

an articulated stylet disposed in the lumen,

the articulated stylet configured to be automatically driven to a target location within a subject without manual guidance and based on at least the real-time captured image data,

the articulated stylet having three degrees of freedom including plunge, rotation, and tip deflection, and each degree of freedom in the three degrees of freedom being independently controllable,

wherein the remote computer system is configured to execute at least one artificial intelligence model configured to navigate the respiratory tract without manual input, where the at least one artificial intelligence model:

analyzes the real-time captured image data to identify orifices and structures within the respiratory tract and assign bounding boxes to the identified orifices and structures,

provides the assigned bounding boxes to a median-flow filtering module configured to predict a motion vector of the articulated stylet using sparse flow,

determines navigation data based on at least one of the captured image data, the assigned bounding boxes, or the predicted motion vector, and

outputs the corresponding navigation data to the transceiver in real time.

18 . The catheter assembly of claim 17 , wherein the spectrometer is configured to sample and analyze substances proximal to the distal end of the catheter tube to produce spectrometer data, wherein the transceiver is configured to wirelessly transmit the spectrometer data to the remote computer system.

19 . The catheter assembly of claim 18 , wherein the imaging device, the spectrometer, and the transceiver are each embedded at different locations in the tube wall of the catheter tube, wherein the catheter tube further comprises:

an insufflation channel embedded in the tube wall.

20 . The catheter assembly of claim 17 , wherein the image data comprises topographical image data depicting structures proximal to the imaging device.