A capsule robot just took its maiden voyage - through a pig's colon

Colonoscopies are not the most pleasant of experiences. Doctors use a thin, flexible tube to examine the inside of your large intestine and look for ulcers, polyps and other signs of cancer.  It's uncomfortable at best, and painful at worst.

But biomedical engineers from Vanderbilt University's Medical Centre in Nashville believe that they've developed a better solution. They've built an autonomous 'capsule robot' that uses magnets to traverse the inside of a colon.

There are two components. The first is an internal capsule that has a camera and a 'tail' that lets doctors control tools attached to it. The second is a robotic arm which moves around above the body, not touching the skin but guiding the internal capsule where it needs to go. Pulling, rather than pushing, the colonoscope means it's less likely to get stuck on protrusions. 

"Since the external magnet pulls the capsule robot with the tether segment from the front or head of the capsule, instead of a physician pushing the colonoscope from behind as in traditional endoscopy, we're able to avoid much of the physical pressure that is placed on the patient's colon - possibly reducing the need for sedation or pain medication," said Keith Obstein, corresponding author on a paper describing the technology (which has not yet been peer-reviewed).

Reverse view

The team also programmed the arm to perform a manoeuvre called a 'retroflexion', where the colonoscope turns around to get a reverse view. In testing on pigs, the machine successfully performed a retroflexion 30 times, taking an average of 12 seconds to perform each one.

"Not only is the capsule robot able to actively maneuver through the GI tract to perform diagnostics, it is also able to perform therapeutic maneuvers, such as biopsies of tissue or polyp removal, due to the tether - something that other capsule devices are unable to do," added Obstein, who presented his work at the Digestive Disease Week conference 2017. 

Following the tests on pigs, human trials are expected to begin at the end of 2018. Until then, the team will work on optimising the algorithms that control the colonoscope, improving its manoeuvring performance.

Duncan Geere
Duncan Geere is TechRadar's science writer. Every day he finds the most interesting science news and explains why you should care. You can read more of his stories here, and you can find him on Twitter under the handle @duncangeere.
Latest in Tech
Josie and Matt laughing in front of the Google Pixel 9a
TechRadar Podcast: Is the Pixel 9a ugly? Has Apple ruined the smartwatch market? And is Samsung's One UI in trouble?
A Lego Pikachu tail next to a Pebble OS watch and a screenshot of Assassin's Creed Shadow
ICYMI: the week's 7 biggest tech stories from LG's excellent new OLED TV to our Assassin's Creed Shadow review
A triptych image of the Meridian Ellipse, LG C5 and Xiaomi 15.
5 amazing tech reviews of the week: LG's latest OLED TV is the best you can buy and Xiaomi's seriously powerful new phone
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones in Black and Gold on yellow background with big savings text
The best Beats headphones you can buy drop to $169.99 at Best Buy's Tech Fest sale
Ray-Ban smart glasses with the Cpperni logo, an LED array, and a MacBook Air with M4 next to ecah other.
ICYMI: the week's 7 biggest tech stories from Twitter's massive outage to iRobot's impressive new Roombas
A triptych image featuring the Sennheiser HD 505, Apple iPad Air 11-inch (2025), and Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4).
5 unmissable tech reviews of the week: why the MacBook Air (M4) should be your next laptop and the best sounding OLED TV ever
Latest in News
Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con up-close from app store
Nintendo's new app gave us another look at the Switch 2, and there's something different with the Joy-Con
cheap Nintendo Switch game deals sales
Nintendo didn't anticipate that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was 'going to be the juggernaut' for the Nintendo Switch when it was ported to the console, according to former employees
Three angles of the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch M4 laptop above a desk
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review roundup – should you buy Apple's new lightweight laptop?
Witchbrook
Witchbrook, the life-sim I've been waiting years for, finally has a release window and it's sooner than you think
Amazon Echo Smart Speaker
Amazon is experimenting with renaming Echo speakers to Alexa speakers, and it's about time
Shigeru Miyamoto presents Nintendo Today app
Nintendo Today smartphone app is out now on iOS and Android devices – and here's what it does