A prototype of an anchoring and extending intestinal micro-robot and an in vitro experiment

Abstract

In order to minimize the invasiveness of intestinal disease diagnosis and surgery, we propose an anchoring and extending micro-robot. The gait of the micro-robot was designed according to the biomechanical features of the intestinal tract. The locomotion condition showed that the anchoring capability and extending ability should be balanced to enhance locomotion efficiency. The mechanical and control system was designed and fabricated under the requirements of the locomotive model. The assembled micro-robot was 90 mm in length and 13 mm in diameter. The micro-robot prototype was tested in in vitro experiments; its locomotion efficiency was approximately 100% in an ideal environment, but around 50% in a pig’s small bowel (20 mm in diameter). The in vitro experiment results demonstrated that the gait is feasible for locomotion in the small bowel although the diameter of the small bowel is a limiting factor.

Keywords::

• Micro-robot
• Small bowel
• Locomotion capsule

Declaration of interest: This work was supported in part by the 863 program of PR China under Grant 2007AA04Z234, and in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 60875061, 30800235 and 31170968, and in part by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (PR China) under Grant 09DZ1907400.