Well I was blown away when I heard about the ‘PillCam’™, which, as the name suggests, is a small ingestible pill with a camera in it, designed by Israeli company Given Imaging, that provides your doctor with access all areas to your intestines. This little pill simply and non invasively saves lives, as it provides a diagnosis for such afflictions as Crohn’s Disease, Celiac disease, tumors of the small intestine and the like. To date, over 400,000 patients worldwide have experienced the advantages of painless and effective PillCam™ Capsule Endoscopy.

Well now some smart folk at Technion University in Haifa, Israel have taken things one step further, having succeeded in finding a way to move a swimming micro-robot through the human body. Add the camera, and the possibilities are endless, as you order the robot to swim its way to wherever you want and have it film the whole procedure.

Professor Moshe Shohamof from the Faculty of Mechnical Engineering (who, in the past developed a robot that assists in back operations) along with several colleagues developed the science that lets the robot swim, quite a significant breakthrough recognized by those in the know.

A previous project that the team worked on, along with colleagues from the EU, built an optical fiber endoscope that is able to enter into thesub-arachnoid space in the spinal cord. That project used a location sensor to determine the location and depth of the endoscope penetration into the spinal cord and provided a surgeon with images from the inside of the spinal cord, “Now,” explains team member Gabi Kosha “we are thinking about the next generation endoscope that will swim by itself. This will be a swimming robot with two tails to propel it. It will have a power source and, on its head, will be a camera, which will enable the robot to send pictures to the surgeon.”

The solution to the robot’s swimming problem developed at the Technion is an important stage towards the development of an overall robot. “This is a unique swimming mechanism that is adapted to tiny sizes and, with very low power consumption”, the Technion researchers explain. “In the future, we hope that the robot will also be able to perform biopsies and release medications for local treatment.”

The Technion development has already been presented at scientific conferences and aroused great interest. Researchers at Harvard University’s Faculty of Medicine are interested in using it. In the researchers’ estimation, a few more years are needed in order to attain a completed product. “I believe that in the future there will be micro-robots that will be permanently implanted in our bodies and will be able to navigate to problematic points,” says Prof.Shoham. “This is a step up for micro-penetration into the human body.”

To view the original release on this go to Technion Researchers Find Way to Move
Swimming Robot Through the Human Body

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