Slashdot Mirror
Italian Scientists Put Robot Spiders In Your Colon
Sockatume writes "Scientists in Italy have developed a robot which will move around the lower digestive tract using legs. The 'Spider-Pill' is fitted with a camera and will stow its legs until it reaches the lower intestine. Once there it can crawl around and take pictures under direction from surgeons. Its USP is that it's more appealing than an endoscopy." The BBC also has video.
In other news, Google is working on it's own version to integrate Googlebot to crawl more data into Google Maps. Soon you can zoom into a person you saw on the street and navigate inside her.
In Soviet Russia, robot spiders put your colon in scientists!
sigs... don't talk to me about sigs....
- as in Mr Z Stardust and the spiders from arse
The goatse guy would almost be ontopic.
Why do I get visions of doctors that look like FBI agents inserting this device into me via my belly button?
I Cater to the Needs of Stupid People. - from a coffee mug Christmas gift
>Scientists in Italy have developed which will move around the lower digestive tract using legs.
Have developed what? Developed which?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Do they bark?
Italy has leapfrogged ahead of both Germany and Japan in the quest for making the weirdest adult films.....
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
>more appealing that an endoscopy
Given a choice between a cable that's tethered to the outside world and a robot spider scuttling around inside my butt, I'd say the former was a win.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
It stands for unique selling proposition. I would like to point out that "more appealing that an endoscopy" is not unique at all.
She swallowed the robo-spider to swallow the robo-fly, I don't know why, she swallowed the robo-fly, maybe she'll die.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
This article is worthless without pictu... er, nevermind. *shudder*
before "exiting the body naturally."
Speaking of which, what is the natural way colon spiders exit the body? Don't they lay their eggs in there and the spiderlings eat their way out through the abdominal wall? I guess leg retraction isn't high on the agenda in that case.
More music, fewer hits
Don't me, I my sentences have subjects. I don't verbs though.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
"Italian Scientists Put Robot Spiders In Your Colon"
Oh no they don't.
Stupid, sexy Flanders.
There already exists a camera pill you can swallow that remotely sends information to a belt you wear for the day. You don't have to stay in the office, and the doctors don't have to waste their time controlling anything. They just watch the movie later in fast forward with some popcorn.
Is there *any* reason that a doctor would need control over this thing? It can't even get biopsies. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only directions forward and back? Why don't they just just improve the camera they already have to last longer and transmit pictures at a higher rate?
Am I the only one imagines this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ypZSJ2_RDY
>A mirror question is, "Why have the Africans accomplished so little?"
Read "Guns Germs and Steel". It's not the answer you're hoping for.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
welco... Aaaah! Aaaah! GET IT OUT!
...whether you want to, or not."
Yeah, I think you'd still have to fast and purge with whatever unpleasant substance the colorectal surgeon chooses to torture you with. The actual colonoscopy isn't painful or anything since you're sedated, it's just a hassle needing a ride home and a break from mental responsibilities.
But wouldn't you also have to stick around a doctor's office while you wait for the robot to get into position? Or would the robot be controlled really remotely, like by a technician in India while you're walking around the grocery store? And wouldn't you have to restrict your diet while you waited for the robot to pass? And wouldn't you have to collect the robot for return/disposal after you've both done your business?
Doctor: ROBOSPIDER YOU SHOULD BE IN THE COLON NOW. WHAT DO YOU SEE?
Robospider: IT'S SO DAMN DARK IN HERE I CAN'T SEE MY CLAW BEFORE MY FACE. HANG ON A SEC. LET ME GET MY LIGHTER.
Doctor: OK. WHAT? LIGHTER? NO DON'T
(SIGNAL LOST.)
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
"If I had points, I'd give you +1, Funny. ;)"
I was hoping for +1 Informative.
Are these things cheap enough to throw away? Cause I really don't want to swallow something that just came out of...well, you get the idea.
People who are opposed to endoscopy need to find a new gastroenterologist who is familiar with medications like demerol/versed or propofol. Seriously, I have had a couple dozen scopes in my life (colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies and Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatographies... i.e. ERCPs) and the worst part of all of them was the preparation before hand. I'm not a large guy and I have some digestion issues, so fasting and "prepping" for 24 hours before hand makes me pretty miserable. The actual scope is pretty relaxing comparatively speaking...
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand this sig, and those that beat up people who do.
...Up the water spout,
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
Wave did the spider to the surprised proctologist,
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.