MIT develops an Origami Robot that when swallowed will go into your body and perform surgery

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/05/13/1526230/-MIT-creates-an-ingestible-origami-robot-that-could-perform-surgery-by-just-swallowing-a-pill?detail=facebook

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in partnership with the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Sheffield, have created something called an “origami robot.” In this example, the research teams created a robot that could be used to extract a button battery from an intestine—something that would normally require surgery.

This new design is a follow up to an older origami robot also developed by a team headed by MIT CSAIL director Daniela Rus. It has a completely different design and propels itself by using its corners that can stick to the stomach's surface. The team decided to focus on battery retrieval, because people swallow 3,500 button batteries in the US alone. While they can be digested normally, they sometimes burn people's stomach and esophagus linings. This robot can easily fish them out of one's organs before that happens. Besides origami surgeons, Rus-led teams created a plethora of other cool stuff in the past, including robots that can assemble themselves in the oven.