Preliminary study of an intestinal bio-robot system based on nerve stimulation

Background: wireless capsule endoscopes for diagnosis and treatment in the gastrointestinal tract face the common problem of active actuation. to tackle this difficulty,a non-invasive intestinal bio-robot system with active actuation based on nerve stimulation was developed. methods: this intestinal inspection system utilized a natural organismthe mud eelto serve as the locomotion mechanism,and it was controlled by a labview-programmed pulse generator. the exterior control unit was able to actively drive and remotely control the navigation and site-specific anchoring of the organism. results: through in vitro stimulation experiments,a method of controlling the organisms forward motion was obtained: when the organism was stimulated at the tail,it moved forward at a relatively fast speed and with high repeatability. the stimulator parameters were as follows: amplitude 1.85 a,frequency 2 hz,pulse duration 500 μs. conclusions: since this is a preliminary study,considerable work remains to be done. however,the results could provide a solid theoretical basis for further research toward producing a practical intestinal bio-robot for the diagnosis and treatment of the gastrointestinal tract. © 2012 zhu et al.; licensee biomed central ltd.