MIT Engineers Develop Snake-Inspired Robotic Endoscope for Small Intestine Diagnosis and Treatment

New robot small intestine endoscope achieves integrated diagnosis and treatment

2026-11-06 02:02:00 Source: Click count:

Technology Daily reporter Zhang Jiaxin

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have developed a new type of robotic small intestine endoscope. It can navigate flexibly through the narrow small intestine like a snake, using a special coating to grip the inner wall of the intestine, and can also perform operations such as imaging inspection, drug delivery, tissue sampling, and polyp resection, providing a new tool for the diagnosis and treatment of small intestine diseases. The relevant research was published in a new issue of the journal “Science Robotics”.

The small intestine is about 6 to 7 meters long, with a diameter of only about 2.5 centimeters, hidden deep inside the human body. Compared with the stomach and colon, it is more difficult for doctors to directly examine the small intestine. Traditional double-balloon small intestine endoscopes require alternating inflation and deflation of two balloons to gradually feed the endoscope into the intestine. This method is cumbersome to operate, and the inspection process is also relatively slow.

To make small intestine examinations more flexible, scientists sought inspiration from the movement of snakes and designed a tubular soft robot. When a snake moves in a winding manner, it alternately contracts the muscles on both sides of its body to change its direction of travel. Inspired by this, scientists designed a multi-functional actuator capable of controlling the robot's movement. Each actuator has 4 chambers inside, which can be inflated in different combinations to make the tubular robot lengthen or bend in any direction.

Maintaining stability on the slippery intestinal wall is another challenge for the robot's advancement. To this end, scientists installed alternating inflatable and deflatable anchoring air bags at the robot's head and tail, and covered them with special textured sleeves. These sleeves borrow from the “paper-cutting origami technique”; before the air bags expand, the coated surface remains flat; when the air bags expand and the coating is stretched, three-dimensional needle-like structures will protrude. These needle-like structures are like snake scales, which can enhance the friction between the robot and the intestinal wall, helping it advance stably, while also avoiding over-stretching the fragile intestinal tissue.

This robot can not only move inside the intestine but also perform various diagnostic and therapeutic operations. It is equipped with a camera, a drug spraying device, and a tissue gripper, which can be used for imaging internal intestinal conditions, delivering drugs, obtaining biopsy samples, and removing small polyps. The robot is connected to an external control device via a cable, and doctors can use a controller to guide it through narrow passages and around sharp bends. According to the design, it can enter the human body through either the mouth or the rectum.

Animal experiments showed that the robot could travel about 2 meters inside the small intestine. The team also verified its functions such as imaging, drug spraying, and tissue gripping, hoping to eventually develop a system that can more automatically examine the small intestine.

Responsible Editor: Zuo Changrui