Scientists at MIT, the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have combined their expertise at origami to create swallowable capsules that unfold and work as remote controlled surgical tools inside the body. They are made of rigid outer layers, that have slits along which bends can form, and an internal heat sensitive layer that actually powers the contractions. There’s a magnet on one end of the device that can be pulled on and rotated to orient the device remotely.
The researchers, in a laboratory model of the guts, were able to make the robot travel along the insides of a stomach and grab a tiny battery, simulating a real-world application of the technology. It’s certainly an unusual approach to have remotely piloted, untethered origami devices travel within the body to perform surgical procedures. But perhaps surgeons should start getting used to the idea.
Here’s a video from MIT showing off the origami devices:
Pre-print paper (PDF): Ingestible, Controllable, and Degradable Origami Robot for Patching Stomach Wounds…
Via: MIT…