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Updated: May 9, 2026
Design and Fabrication of an Elastomeric Unit for Soft Modular Robots in Minimally Invasive Surgery
Published on: November 14, 2015
A wireless capsule robot with spiral legs for human intestine
Wenwen Chen1, Guozheng Yan, Zhiwu Wang
1820 Institute, Department of Instrument Science and Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People's Republic of China.
Background:
As an attractive alternative to traditional diagnostic techniques, wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) can be considered a disruptive technology.
Methods:
This paper presents a wirelessly powered micro-robot based on the Archimedes spiral with high integration of an active locomotion module.
Results:
A WCE prototype was fabricated and tested. Including the video camera and end cap, the outer dimensions of the capsule were diameter (Φ) 16 mm, length 45 mm. Experiments demonstrated that the anchoring force can overcome 2.6 N wrap force on each leg. The anchoring force was improved to 1.486 with textured legs. A series of ex vivo experiments evaluated capsule performance and ability to traverse the intestine at an average speed of 2.3 cm/min. The wireless power transmission utilized a cylinder ferrite-core in the receiving coil-set, which significantly improved the coupling efficiency (to 12%) in the direction close (and parallel) to the transmitting coil.
Conclusions:
Although improvements of the wireless power transmission should target increased stability, this WCE device is both safe and practical for endoscopy.
