Drive module of elongate flexible medical device of catheter robot

Drive module for an elongate flexible medical device of a catheter robot, comprising:

• at least two drive devices respectively carrying two pad holders located opposite one another and respectively intended to receive two pads which, as the two pads approach each other, will grip the elongate flexible medical device in order to then drive the elongate flexible medical device in translation and/or in rotation,
• each drive device being self-supporting and comprising three drive units which are independent of each other, driving the pad holder in translation respectively in the three orthogonal spatial directions, which each comprise their drive motor, and at least two of said three drive units have a rotation-preventing structure preventing rotational movements of the pad holder:
• wherein each said self-supporting drive device is a drive device in which the drive device's own structure ensures that the pad holder is held in position without the presence of an additional support element,
• wherein each said drive unit that is independent of the other drive units is a drive unit which only supports the drive unit that is independent of the other drive units' own weight without also supporting the weight of another of said drive units,
• said rotation-preventing structure comprising:
• a drive crossmember, driven by its respective drive motor,
• a pad holder crossmember, rigidly connected to the pad holder and driven by the drive crossmember,
• two connecting rods respectively connected:
• by one of their ends to two pivoting points of the drive crossmember which are set apart from each other,
• by the other of their ends to two pivoting points of the pad holder crossmember which are set apart from each other,
• the drive crossmember, the pad holder crossmember, and the two connecting rods together forming a parallelogram that is deformable at the parallelogram's four vertices which are said four pivoting points.