Unfolding Origami Robot Lets Doctors Operate From The Inside
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Tiny robot is swallowed and unfolds to work inside the stomach.
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Researchers from MIT, the University of Sheffield, and The Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new miniscule robot that folds up like origami so patients can swallow it, and then unfolds and allows doctors to operate from inside the stomach, according to CIO. Once inside the patient, the robot is able to crawl across the stomach lining in order to repair damage or remove foreign objects.
“It’s really exciting to see our small origami robots doing something with potential important applications to healthcare,” said Daniela Rus, an MIT professor who also directs the university’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, in a statement. “For applications inside the body, we need a small, controllable, untethered robot system. It’s really difficult to control and place a robot inside the body if the robot is attached to a tether.”
The robot propels itself across the stomach lining by what MIT researchers called a “stick-slip” motion in which its appendages adhere to the surface using friction, then detach when the body flexes to make another move. The robot is also capable of propelling water or thrust to navigate through the stomach.
The robot was first presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation last year and has significant implications for advancing surgical methods. Robots are already being used in a number of surgical roles across the country.
One potential use for the new robots would be retrieving foreign objects, such as button cell batteries, that the patient has swallowed. The National Capital Poison Center reported each year 3,500 button cell batteries are swallowed. While they typically pass through the body without incident, if they come into prolonged contact with the stomach or esophagus they can cause internal burning, according to an MIT statement.
Rus explained the dangers of these batteries to USA Today, saying, “[A researcher] bought a piece of ham, and he put the battery on the ham. Within half an hour, the battery was fully submerged in the ham. So that made me realize that, yes, this is important. If you have a battery in your body, you really want it out as soon as possible. “
The new robot weights just one third of a gram and can carry twice its weight. It had a permanent magnet affixed to its back that allows its motions to be controlled by external magnetic fields.
“The entire walking motion is embedded into the mechanics of the robot body,” says Cynthia R. Sung, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science and one of the robot’s co-developers. “In previous [origami] robots, they had to design electronics and motors to actuate the body itself.”