Robotic Intubation Device Guides Tubes into the Lungs

A prototype robotic intubation device automatically identifies the lungs using an infrared (IR) source and navigates difficult anatomies.

Developed by researchers at the Hebrew University (HUJI; Jerusalem, Israel) led by Elchanan Fried, MD, director of the Hadassah Medical Center (Jerusalem, Israel) general intensive care unit (ICU), the GuidIN Tube is a robotic intubation device that utilizes uses IR detectors at the tip of the device to identify the airway and guide the tube toward it. The procedure starts with an IR light that is placed against the skin on the outside of the patient’s trachea. The GuidIN Tube is then threaded all the way through the intubation tubus, with the guiding tip extending onwards.


Because it uses IR technology, the device works even in situations where it is difficult to see, with the detectors on the guiding part of the device helping to automatically navigate the tube down the trachea to the lungs with little operator intervention; forward momentum of the tube is provided by hand, but it steers itself. Once the GuidIN Tube is in the trachea, the tubus follows, and once it is in place, the GuidIN Tube is removed. The device has already been successfully tested on cadavers, and it is hoped that clinical trials could begin in 2014.

“We really thought about the paramedic in the field,” said project leader Itai Hayut, MSc, a graduate student from the HUJI department of applied physics. “We wanted something simple and compact that they could trust without fail. I think we hit it on all marks.”

Intubation, the placement of an endotracheal tube to maintain a clear air passage to the lungs, must usually be visually guided into the trachea. If mistakenly sent down the esophagus, the patient may not be able to breathe and could perish. It is particularly likely that such a mistake could occur when performing chaotic emergency intubations, or when dealing with patients that have blood or other liquids obscuring the view down their throats.

Related Links:
Hebrew University
Hadassah Medical Center