Origami-inspired robots ‘can be swallowed to repair internal wounds’

A new type of foldable origami-inspired robotic technology has been developed that could aid the treatment of injuries and other problems within the body.

Developed by researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the origami robot is designed to be swallowed while folded into a small capsule.

Once ingested, it unfolds, allowing it to be steered by external magnetic fields, move across the stomach wall and carry out tasks such as removing a swallowed button battery or patching a wound.

The robot is built using two layers of structural material on either side of a substance that shrinks when heated. It propels itself through the use of appendages that stick to a surface through friction when it executes a move, before slipping free again when its body flexes to change its weight distribution.

Bradley Nelson, a professor of robotics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, said: "This concept is both highly creative and highly practical, and it addresses a clinical need in an elegant way. It is one of the most convincing applications of origami robots that I have seen."