A Magnetically-Triggered Soft Capsule for On-Demand Mucus Collection

TL;DR

This paper introduces a magnetically-controlled soft capsule designed for minimally invasive mucus collection in the human intestine, utilizing magnetic triggering and heat-induced wax melting for diagnostic sampling.

Contribution

It presents a novel soft capsule that combines passive locomotion with magnetic triggering and heat-based sampling, reducing tissue damage compared to traditional biopsy methods.

Findings

Successful demonstration of mucus collection in experiments.

Reliable activation of the capsule via magnetic field and heat.

Effective sealing and sampling mechanism validated.

Abstract

In this work, we present a soft capsule for mucus collection in human intestine for diagnostic purpose, with reduced risk of tissue damage compared with other biopsy methods. The capsule implements passive locomotion and the sampling process is triggered by magnetic field using a permanent magnet, which is placed on the skin above the region of interest (ROI). The capsule contains a soft vacuum chamber which is sealed with wax. When magnetic field and mucus are present simultaneously, the circuit inside the capsule will be closed and nichrome wire will start to generate heat to melt the wax, and mucus will be collected into the vacuum chamber due to air pressure. Experiments on heating capability of nichrome wire, mucus collection and reliability of the capsule are conducted to validate this design.