Overview
- Researchers led by Giovanni Traverso published a peer‑reviewed Science Robotics paper on Oct. 28, 2026 describing BIOSENTER, a tethered, hollow soft‑robotic enteroscope that carries a camera, a fluid sprayer and clips for biopsy or polyp removal.
- In live‑pig tests the device navigated roughly two meters of collapsed, winding small intestine in about 11 minutes and performed real‑time imaging, localized fluid delivery and tissue biopsies with no visible tissue damage reported.
- BIOSENTER moves by inflating four central chambers that bend the tube like a snake and uses kirigami‑patterned sleeves on head and tail that pop out micro‑scale protrusions to grip the slippery mucosal lining for traction without excessive stretching.
- The system is externally tethered and joystick‑steered through narrow anatomy, and the team is now refining navigation and using AI to optimize kirigami designs while emphasizing that safety, usability and direct comparison with double‑balloon enteroscopy are still needed.
- If engineering, longer‑distance testing and regulatory validation succeed, the device could shorten and simplify deep small‑intestine exams that now rely on slow, highly trained double‑balloon enteroscopy and thereby improve access to diagnosis and treatment for patients.