Ingestible origami #meat #robot #ewww [#geekgirl]

An ingestible origami robot designed to patch wounds, deliver medicine or remove foreign objects from a person’s stomach has been developed by researchers from MIT, the University of Sheffield and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

The robot is swallowed in a capsule and unfolds once in the stomach as its container dissolves. Unlike its creators’ previous ingestible robots, the new device is made largely of meat in the form of a type of dried pig intestine used in sausage casings.

In a video demonstration of the robot’s capabilities, the team uses a mock-up of a stomach, moulded from that of a pig and made of silicone rubber, with a mixture of water and lemon juice to simulate stomach acid. The robot is sent down the oesophagus in a capsule made of ice and tasked with removing a button battery that’s become embedded in the stomach wall.

Source: Wired UK

Editor’s note: Hopefully there will be a #vegan version soon!