Endiatx PillBot
The latest version of Endiatx’s PillBot as of January 2023 [Photo courtesy of Endiatx]
Category: Health, Medical and Biotech
Subcategory: Game changer
From the winners: “PillBot is a swimming robot pill that forms a virtual endoscope in the human stomach. This allows a gastroenterologist to conduct a basic upper endoscopy screening over a zoom call, with the patient in the comfort of their own home!” “The dream of micro-robotics inside the human body comes straight from the world of science fiction. If our ultimate goal is rice grain-sized brain surgeon robots, how do we get the adventure started? We feel that pill-sized swimming robots in the stomach is a perfect place to begin.”
“We were inspired by the 2014 sale of the passive pill camera company Given Imaging to Covidien (now Medtronic). Our mission is to activate the pill camera by making it move under its own power, and to begin adding a series of tools to the platform to go beyond diagnostics into treatment.”
“We have sent more than twenty PillBot prototypes through the founding team. PillBot transforms several months of hospital visits into a zoom call. To date we are the only robot pill platform that operates under its own power, making PillBot a unique telemedicine offering. Let’s make the upper endoscopy 10x cheaper, and 10x more accessible. Let’s treat patients with dignity, and catch cancers years earlier while we can still cure them!”
“Our closest competition is the magnetically-actuated NaviCam product, which is a moving pill camera powered in a hospital or clinic using magnetic capital equipment.”
“We are currently testing Pillbot inside our own bodies.”
PREVIOUSLY: How Mayo Clinic will accelerate Endiatx’s PillBot development
