Scientists create robot pill that performs stomach operations Scientists at MIT have come up with an indigestible origami robot that can perform minor stomach operations on patients. The little […]

Scientists at MIT have come up with an indigestible origami robot that can perform minor stomach operations on patients.

The little red creature is swallowed in a capsule of ice which melts gradually when it reaches the stomach. It’ll then unfold and move around, responding to magnetic fields.

It can do a surprising amount, including patching minor wounds or bringing medicine to specific places.

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But MIT focused on battery removal in its proof of concept for the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm.

How big a problem could swallowed batteries possibly be?

Bigger than you think: 3,300 button-sized batteries a year are accidentally eaten in the US according to the scientists.

If they become embedded in the stomach lining they can cause inflammation and become quite serious.

Burning flesh

While experimenting, the MIT team found that a button battery left on a side of ham could burn its way into the flesh.

“Within half an hour, the battery was fully submerged in the ham. So that made me realise that, yes, this is important. If you have a battery in your body, you really want it out as soon as possible,” said Daniela Rus of MIT, who helped design it.

“Once inside the stomach, the robot could be directed to attach to the battery, it could lift the battery from the stomach coating and then eliminate it through the digestive system,” she said.

Above: a previous origami robot from MIT last year

It’s made out of pork

The origami construction is built from a safe-to-ingest material in case something goes wrong.

It’s made out of stiff pork casings of the kind you might find on a hot dog.

“We spent a lot of time at Asian markets and the Chinatown market looking for materials,” MIT’s Shuguang Li said.

Until now, the intrepid explorer has only been tested in a rubber stomach full of lemon juice and water, but in vivo tests are on the way – and humans won’t be far behind if that goes well.