In experiments involving a simulation of the human esophagus and stomach, researchers at MIT, the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have demonstrated a tiny origami robot that can unfold itself from a swallowed capsule and, steered by external magnetic fields, crawl across the stomach wall to remove a swallowed button battery or patch a wound.
Say you accidentally swallow a battery (it's not uncommon, about 3,500 button batteries are swallowed each year in the US alone). Rather than undergo surgery to have it removed, you can swallow a robot! ;)
Here's how it works:
The origami robot, made of dried pig intestine, is folded into an ice capsule that travels down the esophagus and into the stomach.
The ice then melts, allowing the robot to unfold. Currently, the robot is controlled by an external magnetic field, but researchers hope that in the future it will be able to control itself.
Once in the stomach, the robot is controlled to perform its specific task, so in the event that you swallow a battery, the robot will attach to it and then eliminate it through the digestive tract. This is a less invasive alternative to the current solution: surgery.
The little battery warrior hasn't been tested on humans yet, but it was successful in its mission to remove a battery from a synthetic stomach.
Anyways, no AAAs please!Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Waj08gk7v8
Source & further reading:http://news.mit.edu/2016/ingestible-origami-robot-0512
Corina Marinescu
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