The Diagnostic 'Bugbot' 138
Roland Piquepaille writes "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a robot combined with a swallowable camera could give doctors a better look inside the small intestine. This medical robot, dubbed 'bugbot,' is being developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in its NanoRobotics Laboratory. It will measure less than 800 nanometers in diameter and will transmit thousands of images during its trip inside yourself with its embedded camera. With the six legs attached to the microrobot, CMU researchers want to give more control to camera operators, such as coming back to a suspected lesion. This robot should be ready for human inspection within 2 to 3 years and opens the way for future nanorobots. This overview contains more details about this project."
Those Few Last Few Minutes... (Score:4, Funny)
I'd heard that someone had developed a device like this a few years back, but the thing that I wondered about was control. I guess the early models were the ones that I had heard about, because they didn't have any external operational control.
I hope the bug pulls its legs out before the big exit.
Too much information below: (Score:4, Interesting)
First, you take a powerful laxative. This tastes like toxic 7-up. Make sure your bathroom is well-stocked.
Then the next day you drink a GALLON of electrolytic fluid (like soapy gatorade) over the course of a couple of hours. You will have nuclear diarrhea for a while. This is way worse (the diarrhea) than you get from the chemotherapy (depending on what drugs you get; I got leukovorin and 5FU).
Even with all of this, swallowing the camera would be way better than the old way. Let me just say that the cable on the camera they use on the other end is over 7 feet long. I'm not even 6 feet tall. *shudders*
Important information below: (Score:5, Informative)
Frankly, given the build-up I'd heard, I was disappointed at how unpleasant the whole procedure was not . Yeah, going a day without solid food beforehand was a nuisance, and the induced diarrhea (and the accompanying lack of sleep, since my procedure was first thing in the morning, and the last dose of laxative has to be taken 5 hours prior) wasn't exactly fun. But by far the most unpleasant part of the whole experience was the mundane discomfort of repeated wiping. (Tip: instead of TP, use your bathtub as a bidet and a plush towel to dry off.)
The procedure itself? The drugs they give you send you so far into la-la land that it won't bother you, and the guys who find the very notion of someone exploring their rectum discomforting on a homophobic psychological level will be relieved that they won't even remember the experience. It's a bit like a drugged date rape with signed consent forms. :) Seriously, there was absolutely no residual pain, and a few days later it's as if it never happened... except for the fact that I now know that my colon is healthy, rather than hoping and wondering.
The bottom line (no pun intended): If there's any history of colon cancer in your family and you're over 40, or your doctor recommends it for any other reason, don't wait for nanobots or whatever to get your colon checked out. Better to have a camera shoved up your ass now than to have your colon turned into a semi-colon and get put on chemo a few years from now.
Re:Important information below: (Score:2)
Want to really feal it? Request no drugs. I didn't know that sedatives were an option when I had mine*. I now have made it a point to grill the Dr. about nearly every procedure I'm expected to go through.
*fsking HMO's being too fsking cheap.
-nB
Re:Important information below: (Score:2)
However, th
Re:Important information below: (Score:1)
I feel quite moved to have read so many personal experiences about people having their insides inspected. Shouldn't we form a support group or something?
Chuck
Re:Important information below: (Score:2)
Re:Important information below: (Score:2)
Wiping (Score:2)
You might also try buying a packet of the flushable baby-wipes. I picked some up when I was going through a bout of discomfort and I've never looked back. You only really need one per visit and the material is durable enough that you can even insert a corner of it and swab out the inside.
Re:Those Few Last Few Minutes... (Score:1)
A Real Pain in the ...... (Score:4, Funny)
One one hand this "bug" is way smaller than what explored my nether regions.
On the other hand the drugs that they gave me at the clinic while doing the procedure were very good!
No they're not... (Score:2)
You certainly wouldn't bother taking them for recreation, put it that way...
Re:A Real Pain in the ...... (Score:2)
Re:A Real Pain in the ...... (Score:1)
Re:A Real Pain in the ...... (Score:1)
"Tommy the Barber",08.04.29-05.10.05
800 nm ??? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
They obviously don't mean mm, since that'd be... ah, rather large, so I imagine it's inbetween.
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:1)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:1)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
I always have trouble how to moderate a comment line this.
Troll? Maybe.
Flamebait? It invites flames, but...
Completely clueless? That fits perfectly, but isn't a moderation option!
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
Completely clueless seems a good option but I like using overrated. If they are simply using information that seems right they may have used poor math skills without noticing.
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
If you didn't notice, I'm just a little bit confused now.
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
Some (usually older in my experience) devices do use angstroms for the display of light wavelengths, but they have 4 digit displays (since you just add a zero to go from nanometers to angstroms).
YOU INSENSITVE CLOD! (Score:1, Funny)
However I myself, along with my mother and brother have the ability to see UV so I'm offended that you lump us in with your pathetic minimalist vision!
I have personally been tested at the University Of Alberta and am able to see UVA and some UVB.
What does this mean? Not much really, I lead a normal life dispite my super powers. Actualy I know another gentleman who also has this genetic difference so it's not really super.
We see many ma
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:1)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:1)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
Re:800 nm ??? (Score:2)
800.0 mm (millimeters)
Any mechanical bug this big belongs on the
battlefield, not in a clinical setting.
80.0 mm (millimeters)
That is one big bug. It doesn't need 6 legs,
it needs tank treads.
8.00 mm (millimeters)
Okay, this sounds a bit more reasonable, but
still rather big to have 6 legs.
0.80 mm (millimeters)
On this scale, it would be more like a swarm
of gnats. With some AI and BT or RFID feed-
back, a swarm of probes this
Neo.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Neo.... (Score:1)
Re:Neo.... (Score:2)
WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm, and a quick scan the linked articles don't really mention 800nm.... Was someone just pulling that number out of their ass, roland?
And please stop linking to your summaries of the artice, which simply cut'n'paste the first linked article with a few bits of filler.
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
The photo of the prototype makes me think a reasonable supposition is the diameter is less than 8 millimeters. Probably the blogger is one of the math challenged...
Re:WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)
*slaps forehead*
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Most unfortunate for the computer.
Re:WTF? (Score:2, Informative)
The article referencing the bugbot (here [post-gazette.com]) shows a picture with a mini gut walking bot prototype at least 2-3cm in length.
The Nanorobotics site (here [cmu.edu]) shows a drug delivery bot that they do claim will have to be 800nm wide (here [cmu.edu]). They are saying there that it must be that thin to be injectable.
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
I know I screwed up, but you all got the general idea I hope.
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Yeah, exactly my thought. I also didn't see it in the article, but the link to the nanolab has a link for "surgical swimming robots" and on that page they say that for their applications it has to be less than 800 micrometers, not nanometers.
A wee bit of a difference there. 800 microns is still pretty small. It seems like you'd end up with a pinhole camera with a pretty tiny hole, and what size focal plane? There isn't a whole lot of light in your intestine
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Gives a whole new meaning to blowing sunshine up your ass. I use "your" metaphorically there
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
I'd like to think that the robot is 800mm. Anyone who is not a sword swallower or a porn star need not apply for clinical trials. And we can all tell Mr. Roland where he can put his 800mm 'bugbot'.
On a related note, is samzenpus temulent? You would think all the editors would know that posting Roland would
Re:WTF? (Score:4, Funny)
Fry: I can't swallow that!
Prof. Farnsworth: Good news! It's a suppository!
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
*blink*
ahh fond memories.
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Re:WTF? (Score:4, Interesting)
This robot is most certainly not 800nm in diameter, and never will be, that dimension is definetely inaccurate (and isn't even cited on the actual news paper article). It's not even feasible to have such a small robot, as the control aspect would be hell, and it would not be able to grip the walls of the intestine (which is where the control mechanically comes from). The goal of this project is not to develop a capsule to image the intestine (this already exists! google for the Norika capsule products, and is in use). Rather it is to design a *controllable* capsule, that can be teleoperated. Current solutions involve swollowing the capsule and let it image 'randomly'. This project is to improve this aspect of such a robot, which would give surgeons an advantage when performing colonoscopies or similar - as they can specifically target certain sites to image reliably.
And it's most certainly not a "nanorobot".
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
No, someone wasn't reading TFA:
"This medical robot, dubbed 'bugbot,' is being developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in its NanoRobotics Laboratory. It will measure less than 800 nanometers in diameter and will transmit."
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Patient: I can't swallow something 800mm in diameter!
Doctor: Well, it's a good thing this is a suppository.
Or.. (Score:5, Funny)
This robot should be ready for human consumption within 2 to 3 years and opens the way for future nanorobots.
At least.. I hope that's how it goes in..
Good News! (Score:2)
Re:Or.. (Score:1, Funny)
Good News (Score:2)
If only it could be made in a form of a suppository!
why legs? (Score:2)
Re:why legs? (Score:2)
I had my money laid on "Yoda Doll"
Re:why legs? (Score:1)
The Magnificent Journey (Score:1, Interesting)
soil samples? (Score:3, Interesting)
This eye-robot, on its less-than-fantastic voyage, should soon thereafter be able to retrieve tiny tissue samples, too. Locomotion can't be much easier than prospecting...
M2A bot beat them to the punch... (Score:1, Interesting)
http://www.devicelink.com/mem/archive/05/04/004.h
Double-screw drive (Score:2)
Re:Double-screw drive (Score:1)
nano-technology? (Score:2)
How can something the with of two fingers be considered "nano-technology" ???
-- Duder
800 nm refers to an injectable robot (Score:3, Insightful)
It will measure less than 800 nanometers?!? (Score:2)
Matrix.. (Score:1)
Re:Matrix.. (Score:2)
A suspected what? (Score:1)
"Early stages" indeed... (Score:1)
... In other headlines, "Medicinal remedy could cure all forms of cancer."
New party game (Score:1)
Re:New party game (Score:2)
Not soon enough, dammit! (Score:2)
I'm scheduled tomorrow morning 10:30 CST for the mighty Butt Periscope(tm). I wouldn't push mine back even if they had a two week delivery timeframe, but this medical stuff moves *way* too slowly for my taste
Re:Not soon enough, dammit! (Score:1)
The current swallowable pill type devices are looking promising, but suffer from not being able to go back and examine in great detail a portion they just past.
Your uncomfortable procedure is currently the best change the doctors have to diagnose your problem without fully invasive surgery.
Good luck tomorrow.
not a big deal (Score:2)
As the bowel prep part of the job hasn't changed, it's just a matter of not having to be sedated and having the hassle of having to be driven home afterwards.
If you're sufficiently conscious, make sure you ask for the pictures afterwards :)
When I first saw the title... (Score:1)
Hey, to me, 'bug' means 'error'!
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly ... (Score:1)
I don't why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die.
Yes
Re:There was an old lady who swallowed a fly ... (Score:1)
debug the programmer (Score:2)
Sitti, Lebovitz and Appasamy suggested it may someday be possible to use a legged camera introduced through the anus as a substitute for traditional colonoscopy.
It's a shame... (Score:2)
The PillCam is a small capsule containing a camera, light, battery, and wireless transmitter that sends images to a receiver belt worn by the patient as the capsule tumbles its way through the intestinal tract.
The only thing new offered in this bit of "news", is the thought of at
I know this one! (Score:2)
JFC (Score:2, Informative)
NOT so revolutionary (Score:1)
Re:NOT so revolutionary (Score:2)
Welcome... (Score:1)
Butt isn't... (Score:1)
I can't swallow that! (Score:1)
So... (Score:2, Funny)
Anybody see the first movie in the Lexx Saga (Score:2)
What software does it run? (Score:1)
Tin Hat Anyone? (Score:1)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0061015725/ref=si
Better options (Score:1)
Re:Better options (Score:1)
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2005/05/capsule
BugButt(TM) (Score:2)
man, this guy never shuts up (Score:2)
Re:man, this guy never shuts up (Score:1)
By plagiarizing this comment without citing the original author you are really no better then Roland.
He does it for money, your doing it for karma. You both suck.