'Spider pill' bowel scanner will be ready within a year
Endoscopy, or the examination of a person's bowels via a tube-mounted camera, is not exactly the most pleasant medical procedure one could undergo. In 2004, we noted the early stages of a project to alleviate the (literal) pain of the procedure with a spider pill, which -- once swallowed by the hopefully willing patient -- can be remotely controlled and positioned inside the human body. Yes, it's a tiny, wirelessly communicating robot with a camera for a head crawling inside you. Hit the read link for the full BBC report, it really is worth seeing, and start your Innerspace jokes ... now!



















Yet another spider bot to scuttle into my nightmares
Is it just me, or does that thing look like it would cause MORE pain, not less?
Crappy idea imho. Perhaps version #2 will be better.
Anal Probe!!!!
Into your nightmares and then out of your ass... Thanks to this technology you can literally crap out your nightmare..
Well I am a surgeon and do endoscopies and it looks promising, but there are many problems that need to be worked out and also the speed of the procedure may make it unusable. IT takes about 20 minutes to do a colonoscopy and about 15 to do an upper endoscopy. The procedures are done under complete sedation and there is absolutely no discomfort when done. The pt goes home with an answer. this little robot, moves way to slow and the procedure may take a very long time. the other problem I se is the possibility of it getting stuck, ten the only way to remove would be surgery. Cute idea, not practical at least yet. We will see. Very interesting though!
"The procedures are done under complete sedation and there is absolutely no discomfort when done."
I can attest to that for both procedures - but the drinking of solution the day before makes you wish for death!
Tell that to my Mom. They technicians were "running late" that day, so didn't wait until she was fully sedated. As a result, she hurt, BAD. And they just yelled are her to shut up.
Needless to say, she hasn't gone back to those jerks.
The horror. THE HORROR!
Good Lord! I don't want a mini Terminator crawling around in my ass!
My mission is: to protect you.
Yea, you don't want to upset your hamster. We all know what could happen from that.
not in my back garden!
Just be happy it's not a worm. More disgusting by far in my neverexperienceditbeforeinmylife opinion...
Obligatory "I for one welcome our bowel walking overlords!" comment...
All I see is Keanu in the Matrix... "that thing's real!"
My first thought too.
"You're going to help us Mr. Anderson... whether you want to, or not."
you know, a tube in the bowels doesn't always feel bad.....
OH HELL NO
As if spiders weren't phobia-inducing enough. Couldn't they call it something cuddly like Bowel Buddy? R2D2?
Arse2-D2?
There you go. It was too early to think up a butt joke for R2D2. But he's the little droid everybody loves.
R-Poo D2
I'm in ur butt, watchin ur poop
Ass-2-Deep-2
I'll wait until someone equips those little monsters with tiny poisonous stingers, then there'll FINALLY! be a valid reason for me to be afraid of little crawling things.
I'm just glad that in 20 years when its time for me to start getting colonoscopies, this technology will have advanced even further to the point that this thing may be little more than a speck in a glass of water
What hell?
Spammers be damned!
I asume the picture quality is HD and sound DolbySurround 5.1 certified?
Ok, that is NEVER going to fit up there.
And you thought passing kidney stones was painful! Just wait til you poop out a robot!
Shades of "Fantastic Voyage." Seriously, though, can we please tell the manufacturer what he can do with his product?
Its a colonoscopy when you examine the bowels and an endoscopy when you examine this oesophagus...
Oh dear god. The bots from the Matrix are coming true. Of course we never saw Neo get THAT kind of shaft.
Too much sexy for Monday morning!
My first thought was that I hope by the time I need it, I won't have to endure a finger up my bum. My second thought was that I've just doomed myself to a future where a robot will stick its finger up my bum. Our overlords are sick, sick people.
Holy CRAP!!! (pun intended)
I guess I will skip lunch now... *puke*
Hmmm..maybe if they package it nicely, otherwise I think I'd have trouble swallowing that
This thing is gonna have a shitty view.
DO NOT WANT
That's cool, Richard Gere will take yours.
luckily it is for 'swallow' not 'shove'
You just know that some hacker is gonna "reuse" one of those and install Linux on it!
hasn't this been on House since like ever?
The first time I read that first line I thought it said "You-tube mounted camera".
Ad-supported colonoscopies?
Needs windshield wipers.
And needs to be much smaller. Too big to swallow.
When I first saw the picture, I thought this was a wired camera. Don't want the thing coming back out that way, though - yuck!
Update - this photo is of a wired unit, as a prototype. And they say they need to develop smaller batteries and motors to make the unit smaller before it can be used.
("The pill exits the body naturally." That's one way to put it...)
Just wait till the first endoscopy feeds of famous people start showing up on youtube.
I'll post mine on my blog. (Which i'll make specifically for this purpose: http://endoscopyvids.tumblr.com )
This looks much more promising than those trained hamsters I keep hearing about (big gay Al) "jesus christ"
cancer of the small intestines and colon as well as a whole bunch of other intestinal disorders hits old folks. saw a program similar to this device of an experimental illuminated bullet pill minus the legs. it got through most of the insides but ran out of battery life i believe before the colon area on it's journey to the porcelain throne. this technology is okay by me. it's a bitch getting older if you don't maintain your health.......
Hasn't this been around in one way or another since 2001? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_endoscopy)