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Medical Microrobot — A Drug Delivery Capsule Endoscope with Active Locomotion and Drug Release Mechanism: Proof of Concept

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Abstract

This paper presents a robotic capsule endoscope integrated a targeted drug delivery module (DDM) for digestive diseases treatments. The capsule with a big permanent magnet inside is wirelessly controlled and actively moves to target region in gastrointestinal tract by an electromagnetic actuation system (EMA). DDM is a separated body composed of a drug container and a non-power drug-releasing mechanism. The force to expel drug is generated by carbon dioxide gas pressure coming from a chemical reaction inside a propellant reservoir. Where the chemical reaction is activated by a mechanical mechanism that allows dry chemical powders contacting with water at the target point. A small permanent magnet is utilized to separate reagents and wet paper before drug injection. It is designed to be stable during locomotion by virtue of the attractive force of a big permanent magnet. To trigger releasing mechanism, gradient magnetic field from EMA system is created to push small magnet slide down, which allows reagents drop and contact with water in wet paper. The designed DDM has length of 11 mm and diameter of 11 mm. The proposed robotic capsule could show high potentials to be utilized for therapeutic treatment of digestive diseases in practical clinical sites through simulation and ex-vivo experiments.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 61186, Korea

    Kim Tien Nguyen, Manh Cuong Hoang, Eunpyo Choi, Jong-Oh Park & Chang-Sei Kim

  2. Korea Institute of Medical Microrobotics, Gwangju, 61011, Korea

    Byungjeon Kang

Authors
  1. Kim Tien Nguyen
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  2. Manh Cuong Hoang
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  3. Eunpyo Choi
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  4. Byungjeon Kang
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  5. Jong-Oh Park
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  6. Chang-Sei Kim
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Correspondence to Byungjeon Kang, Jong-Oh Park or Chang-Sei Kim.

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Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Recommended by Guest Editors Doo Yong Lee (KAIST) and Jaesoon Choi (Asan Medical Center). This research was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology Development R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI19C0642).

Kim Tien Nguyen received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Ho Chi Minh University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2012. He received his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea in 2015, where he is currently working toward a Ph.D. degree with Medical Microrobot Center (MRC). His research interests include micro-actuator/robot and micro manipulation for biomedical devices/applications.

Manh Cuong Hoang received his B.S. degree from the school of mechanical engineering at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam, in 2016. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Chonnam National University and a researcher in Robot Research Initiative (RRI), Gwangju, Korea. His research interests are microrobot, medical robot and electromagnetic field.

Eunpyo Choi received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sogang University, Korea, in 2008, 2010, and 2015, respectively. He was a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Dep. of Bioengineering at University of Washington, USA. He is now an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Chonnam National University, Korea. His research interests are BioMEMS and micro/nanorobots for medical approaches.

Byungjeon Kang received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea, in 2008 and 2010, respectively, and a Ph.D. degree in biorobotics from Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna, Pisa, Italy, in 2015. He is a senior research scientist in the Medical Microrobot Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea. His research interests include microactuator/robot and micro-manipulation for biomedical applications.

Jong-Oh Park received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the department of mechanical engineering, Korea, in 1978 and 1981, respectively, and a Ph.D. in robotics from Stuttgart University, Germany, in 1987. Between 1982 and 1987, he worked as a guest researcher at the FraunhoferInstitut für Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung (FhG IPA), Germany. He also worked as a principal researcher in the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) from 1987 to 2005, and he was a director of the Microsystem Research Center at KIST from 1999 to 2005. In 2005, he moved to Chonnam National University where he is now a full professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and a director of the Robot Research Initiative (RRI). His research interests are biomedical microrobots, medical robots, and service robots.

Chang-Sei Kim received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Dept. of Control and Mechanical Engineering at Pusan National University in 1998, the Dept. of Mechanical Design and Production Engineering at Seoul National University in 2000, and the School of Mechanical Engineering at Pusan National University in 2011, respectively. He was a Research Associate in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at University of Maryland College Park, USA. He is now an Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Chonnam National University, Korea. His research interests are dynamics and control applications for mechanical and biomedical systems in the real world.

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Nguyen, K.T., Hoang, M.C., Choi, E. et al. Medical Microrobot — A Drug Delivery Capsule Endoscope with Active Locomotion and Drug Release Mechanism: Proof of Concept. Int. J. Control Autom. Syst. 18, 65–75 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-019-0240-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-019-0240-0

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