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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Worm-bot crawls through intestines
2006-06-07
A robot designed to crawl through the human gut by mimicking the wriggling motion of an undersea worm has been developed by European scientists. It could one day help doctors diagnose disease by carrying tiny cameras through patients' bodies. The team behind the robot includes scientists from Italy, Germany, Greece and the UK. They modelled it on polychaetes, or "paddle worms", which use tiny paddles on their body segments to push through sand, mud or water.
You remember that worm Khan put into Sulu's ear? That's what it looks like. I'll pass, thanks

"We turned to biological inspiration because, in the peculiar environment of the gut, traditional forms of robotic locomotion don't work," says Arianna Menciassi, a roboticist from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. "Worms have locomotion systems suited to such unstructured, slippery environments."
Eeeeeeyyyuuuuuuuu!!!!
The team studied the way real worms use their paddles to crawl and developed computer models to simulate the motion. The Italian scientists then put together two prototype robots that move in the same way.
Videos show an early prototype crawling through a section of pig gut, and a recent version of the robot in a researcher's hand. Further clips show more complex prototypes, with multiple paddles and undulating bodies, wriggling over sand, to simulate the slippery conditions of the gut, and on a flat surface.
"Do what you want to the girl, just keep that THING away from me!"

Next, the researchers plan to develop a robot equipped with a camera and light source that can capture video footage as it travels. Doctors currently explore the gut using endoscopes, which have to be fed through the body, or "camera pills" that must be swallowed by a patient. A pill capable of wriggling through the gut on its own could be a valuable tool, says Andrew Gardner, an independent medical imaging expert at University College London.

"Capsules can show you places nothing else can, but you can't stop or slow down when you get to a point of interest," he told New Scientist. "Being able to have some control, perhaps even to turn around and go to look in a crevice that would otherwise be missed, would be very valuable."
Keep your damm camera worm away from my crevices, thank you very much
But Gardner says the system would need careful testing. "If something this complicated goes wrong, it could be very hard to get out."
Ya think?
He believes it could take years of laboratory and animal testing before the robot is ready for clinical use.
Posted by:Steve

#2  Next, the researchers plan to develop a robot equipped with a camera and light source that can capture video footage as it travels.

YEW GOTTA BE KIDDEN ME!

Heh Call Hollywood! I can see it now, a re-make of "The Fantastic Voyage".

Cue the Music.. Cue the Lights

"The Fantastic Shitty Voyage"

Wonder if the Bot will have a sniff sensor.. Sniff Vision
>:-)

*

Q) Who's gonna buy 12 hour video of shit inside-out?

A) Dr. of Scatology.
Posted by: RD   2006-06-07 23:05  

#1  How do you tell your significant other:
"I think I just crapped a robotic camera worm...would you check?"
Posted by: Frank G   2006-06-07 22:47  

00:00