Magnetically Actuated Capsule Robots: A Review

Capsule endoscopy is a procedure that uses tiny wireless camera inside capsule endoscope to take pictures of patient’s gastrointestinal tract for diagnosis. Gastrointestinal examination has been revolutionized by its simplicity and non-invasiveness. However, at this stage, the weak controllable locomotion capability, does not have extended functions such as biopsy, localization, therapeutics, which become main obstacle expanding application. Using an external magnetic field actuate advantages simple response structure remote energy supply, can expand above-mentioned develop into multifunctional robot. This paper analyzes two types actuation systems magnetically actuated robots, discusses research on robots in active locomotion, anchoring, power multi-capsule robot collaboration, points out existing problems future development directions robots.