Researchers at MIT, the University of Sheffield and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have created an digestible origami robot that, once inside the stomach, can retrieve small foreign objects.
The origami robot pill works by unfolding itself once it is swallowed, and is then controlled by external magnetic fields that cause it to crawl across the stomach wall and retrieve a swallowed button battery or fix a wound. The small robot can propel itself with a "sick-slip" motion, essentially by flexing its body. The origami pill could have important applications in health care, including eventually having the ability to perform surgical operations. Surprisingly, accidentally ingested button batteries have the capacity to actually burn stomach tissue -- so this would be an excellent tool for resolving that problem.
The tiny origami robot is made up of a biodegradable wrap similar to sausage casing.
What's Driving This Trend
- Digestible Origami Robots
- The development of digestible origami robots presents opportunities for advancing medical procedures and resolving health problems caused by accidentally ingested foreign objects.
- External Magnetic Control
- The use of external magnetic fields to control origami robots offers potential for precise navigation and manipulation within the human body.
- Biodegradable Robotics
- The creation of biodegradable robotics introduces environmentally friendly solutions for medical applications and reduces the need for invasive procedures.
Who This Affects Most
- Healthcare
- The healthcare industry can utilize digestible origami robots for non-invasive surgeries and the extraction of foreign objects from the body.
- Medical Devices
- The development of external magnetic control technologies can enhance the capabilities of medical devices for better patient outcomes and improved precision.
- Materials Science
- The field of materials science can explore innovative biodegradable materials for the production of environmentally conscious robots with medical applications.
