The MED Lab has built a number of swallowable robot capsules of various kinds. We have incorporated legs for locomotion, and chemical reactions for insufflation. This work has been done over the years in collaboration with Pietro Valdastri, formerly of Vanderbilt, currently at the University of Leeds in the UK.

Related Publications:

1. J. L. Gorlewicz, S. Battaglia, B. F. Smith, G. Ciuti, J. Gerding, A. Menciassi, K. Obstein, P. Valdastri, and R. J. Webster, III, “Wireless Insufflation of the Gastrointestinal Tract”, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 1225-1233, 2013.

2. P. Valdastri, M. Simi, and R. J. Webster, III, “Advanced Technologies for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy”, Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, vol. 14, pp. 397-429, 2012.

3. J. L. Toennies, G. Tortora, M. Simi, P. Valdastri, and R. J. Webster, III, “Swallowable Medical Devices for Diagnosis and Surgery: The State of the Art”, Proceeding of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, vol. 224, no. C7, pp. 1397-1414, 2010.

4. P. Valdastri, R. J. Webster, III, C. Quaglia, M. Quirini, A. Menciassi, and P. Dario, “A New Mechanism for Meso-Scale Legged Locomotion in Compliant Tubular Environments”, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 1047-1057, 2009.

5. C. Quaglia, E. Buselli, R. J. Webster, III, P. Valdastri, A. Menciassi, and P. Dario, “An Endoscopic Capsule Robot: A Meso-Scale Engineering Case Study”, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 19, no. 10, p. 105007, 2009.

6. J. L. Toennies and R. J. Webster, III, “A Wireless Insufflation System for Capsular Endoscopes”, ASME Journal of Medical Devices, vol. 3, no. 2. 2009.

7. J. L. Toennies, G. Ciuti, B. F. Smith, A. Menciassi, P. Valdastri, and R. J. Webster, III, “Toward Tetherless Insufflation of the GI Tract”, in Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2010, pp. 1946-1949.

8. M. Quirini, R. J. Webster, III, A. Menciassi, and P. Dario, “Design of a Pill-Sized 12-legged Endoscopic Capsule Robot”, in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2007, pp. 1856-1862.

9. J. L. Toennies, G. Ciuti, B. Smith, P. Valdastri, A. Menciassi, and R. J. Webster, III, “Initial Feasibility Studies on Wireless Insufflation of the GI Tract”, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2010 - Workshop on Meso-Scale Robotics for Medical Interventions. 2010.

10. J. L. Toennies and R. J. Webster, III, “A Wireless Insufflation System for Capsular Endoscopes”, Design of Medical Devices Conference. 2009.

11. J. L. Gorlewicz, R. J. Webster, III, and P. Valdastri, “Mesoscale Mobile Robots for Gastrointestinal Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS)”, vol. 51, Robotics for Minimally Invasive Surgery, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., 2012, pp. 224-251.

Patents

1. M. Quirini, R. J. Webster, III, A. Menciassi, and P. Dario, “Teleoperated endoscopic capsule”, U.S. Patent 8,066,632. European Patent 1,715,789. Chinese Patent 100,455,256, 2004.

M.S. Theses

1. B. F. Smith, “Wireless Insufflation for Wireless Capsule Endoscopy”. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 2012.