Robotics in the Gut

Since the advent of ingestible temperature sensors and capsule endoscopes, rapid advances in electronics, robotics, nanotechnology, and material sciences have opened the door for the development of novel medical ingestible robots. The untethered robots provide direct, non-invasive access to the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Furthermore, the tissues, gases, and fluids of the gastrointestinal lumen contain a multitude of biomarkers indicative of gut diseases and health. Ingestible medical robots equipped with advanced imaging and sensing techniques can enable the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, while providing a better pathophysiological understanding of gastrointestinal disorders. In addition, various robotic actuation mechanisms in the macro- and microscale can realize enhanced drug delivery and surgical interventions for the treatment of diseases. In this paper, an overview of recent advances in ingestible robots toward imaging, sensing, drug delivery, and surgical applications in the GI tract is provided. Key challenges and strategies for the development of novel ingestible robots and future directions of ingestible robots toward precision medicine are also discussed.