'Origami Robot' Treats Patients Inside The Body

BOSTON (CBS) - Researchers are developing robots that can treat patients inside the body. Dr. Mallika Marshall reports on one such robot designed to treat problems in the gut.

You could almost call it a stomach bug. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) call it an "origami robot", designed to be swallowed in a pill-sized ice cube so it can deliver drugs or patch internal wounds.

Daniela Rus, PhD, Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, describes this unusual technology.

"Origami means folding," says Rus. "When the robot gets to your stomach the body temperature aids the robot to thaw, and the robot then unfolds," she adds.

The miniature gadget is part of the growing field of soft robotics, moving machines made of flexible materials that can change shape and size, making them useful for surgery and other complex tasks.

The robot, made mostly of sausage casing, is controlled using special joysticks and magnetic forces outside of the body.

"So what we have shown here is the capability of this size of a robot that can get delivered safely into a human body, and deploy and perform some useful tasks," says Shuhei Miyashita, PhD from The University of York

That includes dislodging foreign objects like batteries accidentally swallowed, and then treating the damaged tissue.

"Because every year, over 3,500 batteries get swallowed by children in the U.S. alone," says Rus. "Globally the number is much, much larger."

The ingested battery and the remains of the tiny robot would then presumably pass harmlessly through the body.

But this origami robot is not ready for prime time quite yet. It hasn't been tested on humans or animals, so it's future is still unfolding.