2017, 4/13 By Kim Jin Hyun

Researchers from the Switzerland EPFL team made an edible, gelatinous robot actuator. They are made of gelatin, so we can digest it. Also, we can use it as a medical robot. It can deliver medicine to our bodies. However, it is not yet available for purchase. The EPFL team has been progressing with this project for more than a year, but they are still in an early stage.

Other actuators move by mechanical motors, but this gelatinous actuator moves by using liquid and air that react to chemicals. They crawl to one side to move.

Thy also use digestible batteries, which were invented last year and are made by melanin, cameras and sensor equipment, all of which is already available. They are about 3 to 4 centimeters long.

When two of these actuators are combined, they can be used like a gripper. With this gripper, they can settle down in the stomach and periodically administer medicine.

“This soft, pneumatic approach is really cool because when you think about your gastrointestinal tract and tissues, those also are kind of soft, squishy and compliant, and there’s a lot of gas,” professor Christopher Bettinger said.  “Gelatin is meaningful as an edible robotic material because gelatin is already used safely as an outer layer of capsule form.”

The EPFL team will continue to develop it. They work with École hôtelière de Lausanne, a famous culinary school in Switzerland, to develop this new, edible robotic material.