Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) offers a non-invasive evaluation of the digestive system, eliminating the need for sedation and the risks associated with conventional endoscopic procedures. Its significance lies in diagnosing gastrointestinal tissue irregularities, especially in the small intestine. However, existing commercial WCE devices face limitations, such as the absence of autonomous lesion detection and treatment capabilities. Recent advancements in micro-electromechanical fabrication and computational methods have led to extensive research in sophisticated technology integration into commercial capsule endoscopes, intending to supersede wired endoscopes. This Review discusses the future requirements for intelligent capsule robots, providing a comparative evaluation of various methods’ merits and disadvantages, and highlighting recent developments in six technologies relevant to WCE. These include near-field wireless power transmission, magnetic field active drive, ultra-wideband/intrabody communication, hybrid localization, AI-based autonomous lesion detection, and magnetic-controlled diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, we explore the feasibility for future “capsule surgeons”.

Soft robots, inspired by the flexibility and versatility of biological organisms, have potential in a variety of applications. Recent advancements in magneto-soft robots have demonstrated their abilities to achieve precise remote control through magnetic fields, enabling multi-modal locomotion and complex manipulation tasks. Nonetheless, two main hurdles must be overcome to advance the field: developing a multi-component substrate with embedded magnetic particles to ensure the requisite flexibility and responsiveness, and devising a cost-effective, straightforward method to program three-dimensional distributed magnetic domains without complex processing and expensive machinery. Here, we introduce a cost-effective and simple heat-assisted in-situ integrated molding fabrication method for creating magnetically driven soft robots with three-dimensional programmable magnetic domains. By synthesizing a composite material with neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) particles embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Ecoflex matrix (PDMS:Ecoflex = 1:2 mass ratio, 50% magnetic particle concentration), we achieved an optimized balance of flexibility, strength, and magnetic responsiveness. The proposed heat-assisted in-situ magnetic domains programming technique, performed at an experimentally optimized temperature of 120 °C, resulted in a 2 times magnetization strength (9.5 mT) compared to that at 20 °C (4.8 mT), reaching a saturation level comparable to a commercial magnetizer. We demonstrated the versatility of our approach through the fabrication of six kinds of robots, including two kinds of two-dimensional patterned soft robots (2D-PSR), a circular six-pole domain distribution magnetic robot (2D-CSPDMR), a quadrupedal walking magnetic soft robot (QWMSR), an object manipulation robot (OMR), and a hollow thin-walled spherical magneto-soft robot (HTWSMSR). The proposed method provides a practical solution to create highly responsive and adaptable magneto-soft robots.

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) has the potential to fully replace conventional wired counterparts for its low invasiveness. Recent studies have attempted

The piezoelectric inertial actuator is one of the critical technologies for precision equipment. However, its inherent working mode makes it difficult to achieve smooth motion, further limiting broad commercialization. This work presents a gravity-assisted piezoelectric inertial actuator that can achieve bidirectional smooth drives by a single excitation source and improve bidirectional consistency in vertical assembly by actively leveraging the contact behaviors of the piezoelectric stack and flexure mechanism. Specifically, the strategy is to balance the forward displacement surge and the reverse backward motion using assisted gravity combined with the locking force regulation of the stator's parasitic motion. The operating process is clarified by kinetic modeling, the parametric design of the structure is completed by the finite element method, and experimental studies verify the concept's feasibility. Bidirectional displacement linear fitting correlation coefficients R ² reach 0.9999 assisted by gravity, even at the dead weight of a moving object equivalent to a load thrust of 1.35 N (more than 3.3 times the current work). The maximum velocity and resolution achieve 304.73 mm/s and 5.3 nm, respectively. This novel design idea is especially suitable for the Z degree-of-freedom drive, which has been successfully applied to microscopic imaging.

This article presents a high-sensitivity magnetic tactile sensor comprising a dipole magnetic film and a z-axis Hall sensor. The tactile sensor primarily focuses on pressure response along the z-axis, minimizing interference from magnetic fields in other axes and thereby simplifying signal processing complexity. To enhance the overall performance of the tactile sensor, a qualitative analysis and structural optimization are conducted on both the magnetic film and the Hall sensor. The magnetic film is optimized by comparing different thicknesses and magnetic powder mass fractions, and the Hall sensor undergoes structural optimization through a comparative analysis of different length-to-width (L/W) ratios. By embedding the Hall sensor into the PCB (Printed circuit board), we can ensure a snug fit with the ultra-thin flat magnetic film, resulting in an advantageous packaging effect. Employing these approaches, we substantially improve sensitivity, measuring at 5.92 Gs/N, surpassing the sensitivity level (about 0.17 Gs/N) reported in previous works by one order of magnitude. Finally, the device performs comprehensive characterizations, revealing excellent properties, including low hysteresis (6.82%), rapid response time (<2 ms), remarkable stability (0.09%), and high repeatability (0.48%). This research will actively promote the development of tactile sensors, which offer substantial applications in robotics, health monitoring, and electronic skin devices.