--- title: A soft robot could help doctors diagnose and treat... description: MIT engineers built a snake-inspired robotic enteroscope to diagnose and treat small intestine disorders. The soft robot uses actuators with four inflatable... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-soft-robot-could-help-doctors-diagnose-and-treat-disorders-of-the-small-intestine-syr0tvjjm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A soft robot could help doctors diagnose and treat disorders of the small intestine | daily.dev og:description: MIT engineers built a snake-inspired robotic enteroscope to diagnose and treat small intestine disorders. The soft robot uses actuators with four inflatable... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-soft-robot-could-help-doctors-diagnose-and-treat-disorders-of-the-small-intestine-syr0tvjjm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/syr0tVjjM.png og:image:alt: A soft robot could help doctors diagnose and treat disorders of the small intestine og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A soft robot could help doctors diagnose and treat disorders of the small intestine **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT engineers built a snake-inspired robotic enteroscope to diagnose and treat small intestine disorders. The soft robot uses actuators with four inflatable chambers to bend and extend, mimicking snake locomotion. Kirigami-inspired sleeves on its head and tail pop out 3D needles for traction on the slippery intestinal lining. It carries a camera, a drug sprayer, and clips for biopsies or polyp removal. In animal studies, it traveled about six and a half feet through the small intestine. Giovanni Traverso is the senior author of the study, which appears in Science Robotics. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the new MIT soft robot move through the small intestine? It uses snake-inspired locomotion, with actuators containing four inflatable chambers that bend or extend the tube in different directions. Expandable anchoring balloons on the head and tail alternately inflate and deflate to push it forward, while kirigami-patterned sleeves release 3D needles for traction on the slippery intestinal lining. _Engineers tracking soft robotics and medtech breakthroughs can follow research like this on daily.dev._ ### What can the MIT robotic enteroscope do once inside the small intestine? It carries a camera for imaging, a sprayer for drug delivery, and clips that can take tissue biopsies or remove small polyps. In animal studies it traveled about six and a half feet through the small intestine while successfully demonstrating these tools, offering an alternative to the slower double balloon enteroscopy procedure. _Those exploring medical robotics applications can keep up with devices like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Pressure-free growing robots for soft medical robotics](https://daily.dev/posts/pressure-free-growing-robots-for-soft-medical-robotics-psg8pdbjf) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Soft Electronics Aid Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes](https://daily.dev/posts/soft-electronics-aid-stem-cell-therapy-for-diabetes-9axsnpih1) · IEEE Spectrum · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Vine-inspired robot fingers can reach out and grab someone](https://daily.dev/posts/vine-inspired-robot-fingers-can-reach-out-and-grab-someone-h4hrg0o0f) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A ‘5-in-1’ seed-sized surgical robot](https://daily.dev/posts/a-5-in-1-seed-sized-surgical-robot-5arkmiliu) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [MIT engineers find a way to deliver drugs directly to the esophagus](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-find-a-way-to-deliver-drugs-directly-to-the-esophagus-dq7rqmfhs) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics), [#healthcare](https://daily.dev/tags/healthcare), [#mit](https://daily.dev/tags/mit) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-soft-robot-could-help-doctors-diagnose-and-treat-disorders-of-the-small-intestine-syr0tvjjm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A soft robot could help doctors diagnose and treat disorders of the small intestine","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-soft-robot-could-help-doctors-diagnose-and-treat-disorders-of-the-small-intestine-syr0tvjjm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-soft-robot-could-help-doctors-diagnose-and-treat-disorders-of-the-small-intestine-syr0tvjjm"},"datePublished":"2026-10-28T18:10:14.461Z","dateModified":"2026-10-28T18:38:23.399Z","description":"MIT engineers built a snake-inspired robotic enteroscope to diagnose and treat small intestine disorders. 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