X-Med Prometheus Intestinal Probe

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shrox

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The micro video camera arrived yesterday. It is very small! The image is good and the transmission is great. ( I would think it is perfect for a rocket...)

I'll be putting it together over the next few days, then show it to my doctors. I haven't mentioned this yet to them, so I think they will be very interested in it, when they see it complete and ready to go.

Micro electronics are pretty neat. This LED I have been testing for the headlight has been burning for almost two days on a half-dead 3 volt button battery. Today (after tending to SHX-15B orders) I will be testing the video camera on 6 volts running off two 3 volt button batteries.

I am designing a tracking array, basically two cardboard tubes with wire wrapped in a spiral around the tubes. They will be in a simple PVC pipe rack, both tubes parallel to the ground, one will be in front of me perpendicular to my frontal plane, the other tube at 90 degrees of the first and to my side. They will be directional and pick up the signal being broadcast by the probe. A simple meter will show the signal strength, and would be used to determine the probes location.

Another way would be to use a stud finder, but I trigger them anyway, just point on at me close enough and it goes off, so that probably won't work. (I am one of those people that can get a florescent tube to flash by rubbing my hand over it. )

Maybe I'll set up a webcast and show the world what I am like deep inside...

I'll post a few pics shortly.

shrox
 
Maybe I'll set up a webcast and show the world what I am like deep inside...

Yikes!

I love your work, however this one is going to be a bit too up close and personal for me....

OTOH

I was in a gastroenterologist's office the other day and heard the following joke...

(You guys over 40 will be able to appreciate this)

Colonoscopy ~ (n) A two foot metal pipe with an a$$hole at either end.
 
Off topic but here is one where the name fits the specialty,
Richard Tapper, MD Specialty: Urology (He uses the nickname for Richard)

Shrox,

I doubt your micro video camera will work the way you want it to. The walls of your gut will contract down around the camera and all you will get is a close up of only a small fraction of the entire route. You would have to swallow a pretty wide camera with a large wide angle lens to get the view of the entire circumference of your intestine. Now if you could swallow a small ultrasonic transmitter that might give you the information you want. Remember to put me on the patent and cut me in for some of the profit.

Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055
 
The probe is not meant to deliver an IMAX experience, just to see if there is anything obviously wrong, something can be seen. If a big chunk of flesh that looks healthy obscures the view. great. If unhealthy tissue blocks the view, well there you go, mission accomplished. With the tracking array it will pinpoint the location with 1/2" or so.

The camera is focused about 1 inch ahead, with the headlight focused in the same spot. The camera lens is wide angle pin hole, a tiny hemisphere. When assembled, the entire unit will be dipped in a plastic that will then be allowed to harden (non-toxic of course). The entire thing will be bathed in UV light for several hours to sterilize it before deployment.

Yes, I have thought this all out very carefully. You guys ought to check out what is now available in off the shelf technologies. It is truly astounding.

shrox
 
Shrox,

Who is modulating this signal, is it built into the camera, or did you modulate it with a separate circuit?
What LED are you using?
Is you doc going to prescribe "go-lightly" type meds?
 
It is NOT finished!! Here is a picture of the camera with an LED and battery holder attached. The picture describes most of it. The entire thing will be coated with a non-reactive plastic. The grayed out areas of the picture will be removed, so the resulting unit is pretty small. Just the black camera, the white battery compartment and the LED will be all that remain. Everything will be sealed and sterilized. A small pin will be inserted to a tiny hole like a key to turn it on.

PrometheusPic01.jpg


Here are some specs:

380 lines NTSC resolution
scan frequency 60Hz
Minimum illumination 1 lux
Output power 10 mW
Broadcast frequency 2.4G
Unblocked transmission distance 50m -100m

shrox
 
You'll need to get some soak sterilant for it. What are you coating it with (to make it a pill)?
 
Can I suggest using a magnetic reed switch to leave it off while the magnet is applied and removing it when you want to activate it.
How would you insert a pin into a hole if it is encapsulated?
 
Originally posted by OccamMD
Can I suggest using a magnetic reed switch to leave it off while the magnet is applied and removing it when you want to activate it.
How would you insert a pin into a hole if it is encapsulated?

The magnetic reed switch is an even better idea, thanks.

The pin would have filled the hole then been sealed shut.

shrox
 
That battery popping would be a bad thing, How are you testing the encapsulant's ability to handle the acidity? (I'm not being negative, just asking)
 
(cross-posted from another thread)

Apparently great minds DO think alike, because there is a magazine article about the exact same little picture-pill that Shrox is trying to build.

This concept definitely seems to work. This little pill in the magazine is about 0.45 inches in diam by about 1.05 inches in length, easy in, transmits a video picture, travels through the bod in about eight hours, easy out, yada yada. The commercially-available version is called an M2A and is already in use by the medical community. It is specialized to inspect the small intestine where the 'scopies cannot reach.

Check out "Men's Health" magazine current issue June 2004, pages 120 - 124. Shrox, if I still have your mailing address I will send you these pages.


__________________
 
Hey Occam, many hope for the best when they should expect the worst. I don't take offense to the rigors of science, and your questions show your level of expertise.

I intend to set a sample of the food grade acrylic coating in a few mixtures to simulate the increasing pH's of the intestine, although I imagine the stomach will be the most acidic, with the pH rising as the probe passed thru the intestines themselves. Diluted muriatic acid is what I will probably use, unless you have a better solution.

When you say the battery "popping" do you mean coming lose or rupturing? I am testing all of the batteries for heat and leakage.

I forgot to mention there will be a dome over the lens piece. It will not be coated, as it will distort the image if the coating is slightly uneven. Occam, do you think the end of a tempered glass test tube would be safe to use?
 
I'll have to start out for legal reasons saying that you shouldn't do this to yourself.

The other probe they are talking about has been in development for a long time and is pretty readily available.

As far as tempered glass, it seems it would withstand just about everything it would run into, but affixing it might be trouble due to dis-similar materials.

If I were to even begin doing something like this I would find a pig someplace and test it on it, maybe a large dog, but probably a pig. I would build at least 2 and do some animal testing to check things out a bit. Especially attenuation of the RF and battery life.

Trouble is, you are placing all sorts of metals and poisons in your system if this thing ruptures and I would be very concerned about that. It doesn't mean I don't admire you for going all out to do it, but you could kill or poison yourself.

You sure you don't want to start a fund raising campaign for the one already in production? We could build this one later if you still wanted to.

Do you have a part number on the LED I can look up?
 
Radio Shack 276-320
5mm White LED
3.6 volt - 20mA - 1100mcd

shrox
 
In response to your question about the test tube lens. You may be able to do this, but it really brought up another issue to me.

I believe the entire device should be fluid filled with no air gaps internally. This brings up focal length and incidence of refraction issues for the lens. In doing this you would also probably want to conformal coat the electronics before filling. If you do conformal coat, then test the board right after that. Conformal coating is pretty inert, but It may have some effect on your analog sections, shifting frequencies etc.... Maybe not.
 
I have postponed the Prometheus. I haven't had the intestinal pains for a few weeks, and I have gained a few pounds. Thanks to MissileMan for his donation, the project will go when the condition flares up again. Then we can see what exactly is going on.

shrox
 
Glad to hear you sidelined the project for now. Though I was interested to see the results, it would have be risky and you are better off healthy than trying to track a self built camera through your body :)

How were you planning on swallowing the thing anyway? I can barely get down vitamins. That thing is HUGE! :D
 
Originally posted by shrox
I have postponed the Prometheus. I haven't had the intestinal pains for a few weeks, and I have gained a few pounds. Thanks to MissileMan for his donation, the project will go when the condition flares up again. Then we can see what exactly is going on.

shrox
Well, I am having problems again and I am going to get it ready. I am not worried about it at all, or else I wouldn't try it. It will be fine.
 
Have you tried tossing the probe in a bowl of soup or something to see how well the images look? Have any screenshots? :) And really, how can you swallow something that big :O
 
Yes, I have tested the images. It is not that big, insertion was explained eariler.
 


Who's going to play the part that Raquel Welch played in the "Original"...

Good luck...!!!
 
Originally posted by shrox
Maybe I'll set up a webcast and show the world what I am like deep inside...

I'll post a few pics shortly.

You won't see much of anything interesting if you don't completely clean yourself out first. I mean completely, with a few days of light meats and starches only, followed by a day of clear liquids only, one of which is a gallon of stuff like "Golytely" (I am NOT kidding) which rushes through you like Paul Stapp on a rocket sled run. And even with all that, some folks still have stuff obscuring the view and have to try again. If everything's clear, then everything is collapsed in on itself, and has to be inflated with pressurized air in order to see what needs seen. This, more than anything, is why they sedate people they do this to.

Go on, ask me how I know.
Three days later and I'm just starting to operate normally again.
I did NOT ask for pictures.
 
Originally posted by DynaSoar
. . . everything . . . has to be inflated with pressurized air in order to see what needs seen

So you think you ate a few beans and had a little gas from time to time? Or maybe a really big mass of gas? Pah! Adolescent foolishness!

You guys should try being forcibly inflated for an exam (can gas cramps be terminal?). I think they copied this technique from the Spanish Inquisition. It was the most painful experience I have ever had in my life.

And on top of it all, the excess pressurization gas get vented from--- you guessed it--- right onto the attending nurses and technicians.

There is absolutely no pride left whatsoever when they finish with you.
 
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