Active Capsule Endoscope Robot: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Background: China is a big country with a vast territory, in which gastropathy has become a common high-incidence disease in daily life. Gastroscopy is an important means of diagnosis of gastropathy, but the use of a gastroscope causes a lot of pain to patients. A cable-free, non-invasive and painless diagnosis and treatment tool, an active capsule endoscope robot, can solve this problem very well. Capsule robot has become a new development hotspot. Objective: The study aims to provide an overview of the active endoscope capsule robot and introduce its classification, characteristics and development. Methods: This paper summarizes various scientific research achievements of the active endoscope capsule robot. The structural characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of various active endoscope capsule robots are introduced. Results: The active endoscope capsule robot has been analyzed and compared to other models. Its typical characteristics have been summarized. The main problems in its development are analyzed, its development trend is prospected, and the research status and future of active endoscope capsule robot are discussed. Conclusion: The active capsule robot is classified into two categories: bionic and non-bionic. The analysis shows that the capsule robot is an effective and safe initiative and has a very broad application prospect for various gastrointestinal tests compared to gastroscope, and helps alleviate the pain of patients.