Mar 13, 2017 - Technology

Coming soon: edible robots, moving around your insides

Frank Farm / Flickr cc

Researchers from Intelligent Systems Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have been working on the creation of a tiny edible and digestible robotic actuator which may be used to deliver medicine in the intestinal track or help provide internal stability, reports Recode.

These edible actuators are covered in gelatin, which is already used safely as an outer layer in medicine capsules available over the counter, and filled with air or fluid that reacts to chemicals, causing them to move. The researchers at EPF told Recode that if you combine these gelatin actuators with other edible electronics — such as ingestible batteries, chips and cameras — you could one day have a fully edible robot.

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