Endiatx Builds Advanced Micro-robotics with SOLIDWORKS

Endiatx is an innovative medical technology company that plans to revolutionize medical diagnostics through advanced micro-robotics. PillBot^™, its flagship endoscope-like product, is essentially a motorized pill camera that can swim around in your stomach to examine your insides.

The integrated AI in the PillBot gathers data to not only identify potential stomach issues but also to offer recommendations on medications and dietary adjustments tailored to individual patient needs.

The PillBot also allows you to receive an endoscopy from the comfort of your home. “The challenge was how do we get from this large thing to this 13 by 30 millimeter pill?” recalls Thomas Roger Silva, Endiatx Head of Manufacturing.

The complexity of miniaturizing the technology while ensuring functionality posed significant design and manufacturing hurdles. Silva adds that SOLIDWORKS helped the Endiatx team transform the original idea into reality after the company was founded in Silicon Valley in 2019.

A critical component of the development process was flow simulation, which enabled the team to iterate rapidly through various designs. “[SOLIDWORKS] Flow Simulation really played a key role in expediting our design process,” explains Silva. “It helped us quickly iterate through various combinations of the propellers and lumens and their relative positions, allowing us to save time, money, prototyping materials, and get the PillBot we have today.” 

Using SOLIDWORKS capabilities yielded significant benefits. SOLIDWORKS not only accelerated the design process but also reduced costs and enhanced the project's overall efficiency all the way through to manufacturing.

“SOLIDWORKS empowers you to consider manufacturing throughout your design process,” says Silva. As you're designing and building an elegant part, you're like, ‘Oh, this is the process I'm gonna be using to make this part.’ And ‘Oh, this is the tool that I should be using to make this cut.’ That really makes the transition from concept to production seamless.”

Silva enthuses about the breadth of capabilities within SOLIDWORKS: “It's really an ecosystem. And inside that ecosystem you have a prototyping tool, a manufacturing tool, a simulation tool. You have countless other tools that all merge together seamlessly. And as head of manufacturing, something that's always in my mind is, ‘How are we actually gonna make this part?’”

This holistic approach enabled the Endiatx team to anticipate and integrate manufacturing considerations to ensure a smooth progression to production. Silva continues, “SOLIDWORKS really empowers you to consider manufacturing throughout your design process.”

Endiatx's progression from a visionary concept to the development of a game-changing medical device illustrates the impact of integrating advanced design tools like SOLIDWORKS into the design and manufacturing process.

Silva’s management and strategic use of technology have positioned Endiatx to redefine medical diagnostics, making endoscopy more accessible and less invasive. Silva concludes, “With Dassault Systèmes [solutions], you're buying into an ecosystem that can take you the whole journey, from concept to market to volume.”