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Researchers develop swimming, body-exploring robot


Researchers at Technion's Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Israel look to finally be seeing some results from their crack Innerspace department, recently announcing that they've developed a pint-sized robot that can swim its way through heretofore inaccessible areas of the human body. The bot uses two tails to propel itself along, carrying a camera with it to document the picturesque journey -- eventually, the researches see the robot able to deliver medication straight to the source and even take biopsies. Of course, this isn't the first attempt to chart a course through your various bodily passages. Pill-based camera exploration has been around for a comparatively long time, but depends on your body's natural gastrointestinal movements to squeeze its way through your innards. More recently, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University developed a six-legged bugbot that can crawl through your intestines and be remotely controlled to ensure a thorough looksee. Technion's bot still looks to be quite a ways off from catching a ride in your spinal fluid, however, with the project's team leader estimating that it'll be a few years before they have a completed product.

[Via Medgadget]

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