It's not every day that you see a guy swallow a robot!
Of course, this is a "pillbot" an endoscopic camera that can be maneuvered remotely to look at whatever the doctor wants. This is a huge improvement over previous pill cameras, which just tumbled and clicked, and you took pot luck as far as what was pictured.
Science fiction fans may regard this ingestible device as being similar to the Proteus, the miniaturized ship from the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage. Instead of having a miniaturized pilot on board, the pill camera is of course piloted remotely.
Here's an early "science-fictional" view of this idea, that I saw on television when only a small child. In Test Pilot, an episode of The Jetson's first broadcast on December 30, 1962, George Jetson goes in for a physical. The doctor uses a special capsule called a "Peek-a-Boo Prober".
(Peek-a-Boo Prober from Jetson's Test Pilot episode)
Here's a close-up:
(Close-up of the Peek-a-Boo Prober from Jetson's Test Pilot episode)
The doctor uses a special Peek-a-Boo Prober launcher to start it on its journey through the patient. Once inside the doctor uses a voice-control interface to instruct the Prober. Take a look at an internal video provided by the Prober to the doctor.
(Peek-a-Boo Prober in stomach episode)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/7/2021)
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