Development of a reaction drive for a propulsion mechanism

A micro robot that can be swallowed with sensors to inspect the intestine without the need to cut open a patient must have a propulsion mechanism to direct it to the areas of interest. The use of a propulsion mechanism external to the pill could endanger the patient, what is proposed here is a method of propelling a micro (capsule) robot with an internal mechanism based on the inertia of a swinging mass. The dynamics and control issues of a pendulum-driven cart-pole system are similar to those of a capsule robot. Therefore, this paper reports an experimental study of a pendulum-driven cart-pole system. The experimental results demonstrate the proposed system.