Tiny robots could help infants with rare diseases. Watch one in action

This robot is helping the body regenerate
tissue from the inside.
Some disorders involve missing tissue --
for example, babies born with a short esophagus
that’s disconnected from their stomachs --
a congenital defect known as esophageal atresia.
To make new tissues,
the robot works as a miniature
motorized traction device,
It gently stretches tube-shaped organs
such as the esophagus, intestines, and blood vessels
by continuously pulling on them.
That tension encourages new tissue to grow.
To find out how well the implant works,
researchers tested the device in pigs
with healthy, connected esophagi.
The robotic implant is basically a small cylindrical
pouch of motors and sensors encased in a waterproof
skin that connects to the two ends of the esophagus.
Using an external controller that keeps track
of how much the robot pulls on the organ and
how far it stretches,
researchers increased the space
between the rings by about 2.5mm
each day for about a week and a half.
That helped the pig’s esophagus between
the two rings grow 77 percent longer.
The pigs in the study behaved and ate normally --
That means these robots could help patients
regenerate organs with fewer complications
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Tiny robots could help infants with rare diseases. Watch one in action

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