A new, digestible mini-robotic camera, about the size of a multivitamin pill, was demonstrated at the annual TED Conference in Vancouver. The remote-controlled device can eliminate invasive medical procedures.
With current technology, exploration of the digestive tract involves going through the highly invasive procedure of an endoscopy, in which a camera at the end of a cord is inserted down the throat and into a medicated patient’s stomach.
But the robotic pill, developed by Endiatx in Hayward, California, is designed to be the first motorized replacement of the procedure. A patient fasts for a day, then swallows the PillBot with lots of water. The PillBot, acting like a miniature submarine, is piloted in the body by a wireless remote control. After the exam, it then flushes out of the human body naturally.
For Dr. Vivek Kumbhari, co-founder of the company and professor of medicine and chairman of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, it is the latest step toward his goal of democratizing previously complex medicine.
If procedure-based diagnostics can be moved from a hospital to a home, "then I think we have achieved that goal," he said. The new setting would require fewer medical staff personnel and no anesthesia, producing "a safer, more comfortable approach.”
Kumbhari said this technology also makes medicine more efficient, allowing people to get care earlier in the course of an illness.
For co-founder Alex Luebke, the micro-robotic pill can be transformative for rural areas around the world where there is limited access to medical facilities.
"Especially in developing countries, there is no access" to complex medical procedures, he said. "So being able to have the technology, gather all that information and provide you the solution, even in remote areas - that's the way to do it.”
Luebke said if internet access is not immediately available, information from the PillBot can be transmitted later.
The duo are also utilizing artificial intelligence to provide the initial diagnosis, with a medical doctor later developing a treatment plan.
Joel Bervell is known to his million social media followers as the “Medical Mythbuster” and is a fourth-year medical student at Washington State University. He said the strength of this type of technology is how it can be easily used in remote and rural communities.
Many patients “travel hundreds of miles, literally, for their appointment. Use of a pill that would not require a visit to a physician "would be life-changing for them.”
The micro-robotic pill is undergoing trials and will soon be in front of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval, which developers expect to have in 2025. It's expected that the pill would then be widely available in 2026.
Kumbhari hopes the technology can be expanded to the bowels, vascular system, heart, liver, brain and other parts of the body. Eventually, he hopes, this will allow hospitals to be left for more urgent medical care and surgeries.
