Image credit – Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
One of the ways that those living with diabetes deal with it, especially if they’re type 1, is to inject themselves with insulin. For some, this might occur multiple times a day, which can be troublesome and not to mention painful, but it seems that researchers from Italy have managed to figure a way to deal with that.
The researchers from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies have created a robot that will live inside of your abdomen. There are two parts to this system – an internal insulin dispenser that’s surgically implanted inside of the patient, and a magnetic capsule that is filled with insulin.
So what it works is that whenever you need a dose of insulin, you will swallow the pill where it travels down your digestive system. The dispenser, with the use of magnets, rotates the capsule into position and punctures it with a retractable needle and fills it with insulin. The capsule then makes its way around your digestive system releasing insulin until it’s empty and you will eventually poop it out.
It also relies on wireless charging which means that there are less interventions involved and less maintenance. It sounds scary having something implanted in you, but we’re sure that there are some diabetic patients out there who can probably appreciate that this would be a relatively less painful method of insulin delivery.
Filed in . Read more about Health and Science. Source: engadget