Technology of swallowable capsule for medical applications

Medical technology has undergone major breakthroughs in recent years, especially in the area of the examination tools for diagnostic purposes. This paper reviews the swallowable capsule technology in the examination of the gastrointestinal system for various diseases. The wireless camera pill has created a more advanced method than many traditional examination methods for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases such as gastroscopy by the use of an endoscope. After years of great innovation, commercial swallowable pills have been produced and applied in clinical practice. These smart pills can cover the examination of the gastrointestinal system and not only provide to the physicians a lot more useful data that is not available from the traditional methods, but also eliminates the use of the painful endoscopy procedure. In this paper, the key state-of-the-art technologies in the existing Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) systems are fully reported and the recent research progresses related to these technologies are reviewed. The paper ends by further discussion on the current technical bottlenecks and future research in this area

A Non-Rigid Map Fusion-Based RGB-Depth SLAM Method for Endoscopic Capsule Robots

In the gastrointestinal (GI) tract endoscopy field, ingestible wireless capsule endoscopy is considered as a minimally invasive novel diagnostic technology to inspect the entire GI tract and to diagnose various diseases and pathologies. Since the development of this technology, medical device companies and many groups have made significant progress to turn such passive capsule endoscopes into robotic active capsule endoscopes to achieve almost all functions of current active flexible endoscopes. However, the use of robotic capsule endoscopy still has some challenges. One such challenge is the precise localization of such active devices in 3D world, which is essential for a precise three-dimensional (3D) mapping of the inner organ. A reliable 3D map of the explored inner organ could assist the doctors to make more intuitive and correct diagnosis. In this paper, we propose to our knowledge for the first time in literature a visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method specifically developed for endoscopic capsule robots. The proposed RGB-Depth SLAM method is capable of capturing comprehensive dense globally consistent surfel-based maps of the inner organs explored by an endoscopic capsule robot in real time. This is achieved by using dense frame-to-model camera tracking and windowed surfelbased fusion coupled with frequent model refinement through non-rigid surface deformations

Magnetic-Visual Sensor Fusion-based Dense 3D Reconstruction and Localization for Endoscopic Capsule Robots

Reliable and real-time 3D reconstruction and localization functionality is a crucial prerequisite for the navigation of actively controlled capsule endoscopic robots as an emerging, minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic technology for use in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this study, we propose a fully dense, non-rigidly deformable, strictly real-time, intraoperative map fusion approach for actively controlled endoscopic capsule robot applications which combines magnetic and vision-based localization, with non-rigid deformations based frame-to-model map fusion. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated using four different ex-vivo porcine stomach models. Across different trajectories of varying speed and complexity, and four different endoscopic cameras, the root mean square surface reconstruction errors 1.58 to 2.17 cm.Comment: submitted to IROS 201

Frontiers of robotic endoscopic capsules: a review

Digestive diseases are a major burden for society and healthcare systems, and with an aging population, the importance of their effective management will become critical. Healthcare systems worldwide already struggle to insure quality and affordability of healthcare delivery and this will be a significant challenge in the midterm future. Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE), introduced in 2000 by Given Imaging Ltd., is an example of disruptive technology and represents an attractive alternative to traditional diagnostic techniques. WCE overcomes conventional endoscopy enabling inspection of the digestive system without discomfort or the need for sedation. Thus, it has the advantage of encouraging patients to undergo gastrointestinal (GI) tract examinations and of facilitating mass screening programmes. With the integration of further capabilities based on microrobotics, e.g. active locomotion and embedded therapeutic modules, WCE could become the key-technology for GI diagnosis and treatment. This review presents a research update on WCE and describes the state-of-the-art of current endoscopic devices with a focus on research-oriented robotic capsule endoscopes enabled by microsystem technologies. The article also presents a visionary perspective on WCE potential for screening, diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures

Capsule endoscopy of the future: What's on the horizon?

Capsule endoscopes have evolved from passively moving diagnostic devices to actively moving systems with potential therapeutic capability. In this review, we will discuss the state of the art, define the current shortcomings of capsule endoscopy, and address research areas that aim to overcome said shortcomings. Developments in capsule mobility schemes are emphasized in this text, with magnetic actuation being the most promising endeavor. Research groups are working to integrate sensor data and fuse it with robotic control to outperform today's standard invasive procedures, but in a less intrusive manner. With recent advances in areas such as mobility, drug delivery, and therapeutics, we foresee a translation of interventional capsule technology from the bench-top to the clinical setting within the next 10 years

Unsupervised Odometry and Depth Learning for Endoscopic Capsule Robots

In the last decade, many medical companies and research groups have tried to convert passive capsule endoscopes as an emerging and minimally invasive diagnostic technology into actively steerable endoscopic capsule robots which will provide more intuitive disease detection, targeted drug delivery and biopsy-like operations in the gastrointestinal(GI) tract. In this study, we introduce a fully unsupervised, real-time odometry and depth learner for monocular endoscopic capsule robots. We establish the supervision by warping view sequences and assigning the re-projection minimization to the loss function, which we adopt in multi-view pose estimation and single-view depth estimation network. Detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses of the proposed framework performed on non-rigidly deformable ex-vivo porcine stomach datasets proves the effectiveness of the method in terms of motion estimation and depth recovery.Comment: submitted to IROS 201

Hybrid 6-DoFs magnetic localization for robotic capsule endoscopes compatible with high-grade magnetic field navigation

This paper proposes a hybrid 6-DoFs localization system for endoscopic magnetic capsules, compatible with external high-grade permanent magnetic locomotion. The proposed localization system, which is able to provide an accurate estimation of the endoscopic capsule pose, finds application in the robotic endoscopy field to provide efficient closed-loop navigation of a magnetically-driven tethered capsule. It takes advantage of two optimization steps based on a triangulation approach, i.e. (1) mathematical approximations of the magnetic field, and (2) minimization of the magnetic field mean square deviation. The proposed localization system was tested in two different in-vitro scenarios for mimicking the clinical cases that a magnetic capsule would encounter during tele-operated magnetic navigation. The development phase was preceded by an in-depth work-space analysis to lay the groundwork for the localization design and implementation. Results of the hybrid 6-DoFs localization system show a significant accuracy in accordance with the state-of-the-art, i.e. < 5 mm and < 5° in position and orientation, but introducing benefits in expanding the work-space by increasing the number of electromagnets on the operating table as an independent solution with respect to the external magnetic locomotion source