Origami Inspired Design for Capsule Endoscope to Retrograde Using Intestinal Peristalsis

Abstract

Capsule endoscopy has gained a lot of attention in the medical field in the recent past as an effective way of investigating unusual symptoms experienced in places such as esophagus, stomach, small intestine and colon. However, motion control of the capsule endoscope is challenging and often requires a power source and miniature actuators. To address these issues, we present a novel origami inspired structure as an attachment to the capsule endoscope. The proposed origami structure utilizes the wave generated by peristalsis of the intestine to move it forward and backward. When the origami structure is folded, the capsule endoscope is propelled forward by intestinal peristalsis. When the origami structure is unfolded, the intestinal peristalsis squeezes the origami structure to drive the capsule endoscope to move in the opposite direction. Therefore, folding and unfolding of the proposed origami structure would allow to control the movement direction of the capsule endoscope. In this letter, we present the design, simulations and experimental validation of the proposed origami structure.