Would You Let an Autonomous Colonoscopy Robot Inside Your Butt?

Robots have been designed to visit lots of far-out places, from the surface of Mars to the deep ocean. Now there's a robot that can take a trip through the human colon. It sounds like something out of "The Magic School Bus" or eighties classic "Innerspace," but the idea is that this pill-sized bot could perform colonoscopies and help screen for disease.

Scientists from Vanderbilt University and the University of Leeds invented the magnetized bot, which is is guided by a larger magnet attached to a robotic arm. Instead of a physician pushing the colonoscope from behind, the magnetic attraction pulls the capsule robot through the colon. For patients, hopefully, it'd be more comfy than having a human do it. So far, the device has only been tried on pig colons, but humans could be next.

Pietro Valdastri, chair in robotics and autonomous systems at the University of Leeds, who worked on the study, said they came up with the idea because a lot of people avoid getting colonoscopies, which means they aren't getting screened for cancer.

"I want to get [the robot] ready before I turn 50," Valdastri joked when I phoned him to ask him about the new robot. (Research was presented at Digestive Disease Week.)

The endoscope is also smaller than the standard tool—quite a bit so, considering the place that it's going.

The team of researchers tested the device in a pig's colon and found that, with the push of a button, the robot could complete a retroflexion. That's when the colonoscope bends backwards to give the endoscopist a rear-view look at the colon wall.

Valdastri said that the procedure will take the same amount of time as a standard colonoscopy, but will be gentler. The little robot was tested 30 times in pigs and completed each retroflexion in around 12 seconds, satisfactory to the team. The next step is to start testing on humans. Trials are expected to start near the end of 2018.

"Whoever is afraid of feeling pain and whoever can't get sedated will hopefully be encouraged to get a colonoscopy," said. Valdastri. "A lot of patients will benefit from it."

Read More: A Hospital in Canada Is Doing a Facebook Live of a Colonoscopy Today

He specifically mentioned Irritable Bowel Syndrome patients as people who might prefer their colonoscopies done with a small robot.

"(Some) IBS patients have to have five colonoscopies a year," he said. "They'll benefit from a painless and more gentle procedure." Who knows if humans are going to be receptive to robots traversing up there, but Valdastri is hoping that they'll at least give his robot a chance.

Correction: An earlier version of this piece identified Pietro Valdastri as affiliated with Vanderbilt, but he's now at the University of Leeds. The piece has been updated to reflect this, as well as University of Leeds' contribution to the study.

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