This Amazing Motorola Gadget Was Made to Swallow (And the FDA Cleared It)

The idea of ​​attaching gadgets to our bodies is not unusual. Wearables such as smart watches have become commonplace, and a variety of smart rings are available for tech enthusiasts who find them essential. If strapping a computer screen directly to your face sounds appealing, you might as well drop a few thousand dollars on the Apple Vision Pro. However, putting gadgets in our bodies is a completely different matter.

Gadgets that can bend may sound like science fiction, but back in 2013, Motorola thought the idea was worth exploring. At the AllThingsD D11 conference, Motorola’s advanced technology team demonstrated a new swallowable pill developed in collaboration with Proteus Digital Health. It can use the acid in your stomach to generate a current, which can allow the pill to send out a signal after it’s taken. Motorola suggested that the pill could be used as an authenticator, allowing you to unlock your phone by having it pick up a signal from the pill in your stomach.

Motorola’s head of advanced design, Regina Dugan, said at the conference that swallowing the pill “means that my arms are like ropes, my hands are like alligator clips – if I touch my phone, my computer, my door, my car, I’m signing in.” He said the technology could help reduce the “mechanical mismatch between people and electronics.” At the conference, he also demonstrated a digital tattoo that can be used to store and retrieve authentication keys, and even had a prototype version tattooed on his arm.

Ultimately, neither Motorola’s swallowable authentication pill nor its digital tattoo ever made it to the consumer market. Nevertheless, Motorola’s partner in the project, Proteus Digital Health, continued to work on the design of the tablets. While Motorola unveiled both gadgets at the conference, Proteus had just received approval from the FDA to market the pill. The collaboration between the two companies changed over time, but Proteus later partnered with Japanese drugmaker Otsuka and tried to launch a smart pill with aripiprazole, an antipsychotic drug.

Rather than using the pill as a password as Motorola planned, Otsuka planned to use the pill’s signal-emitting capabilities to allow doctors and health care professionals to verify that a patient had taken their medication as prescribed. Otsuka and Proteus applied for approval to the FDA in 2015, but it was initially rejected in 2016. The FDA later reversed its decision, approving the pill in 2017. However, Proteus eventually ran out of money in 2020 and was declared bankrupt. Its assets, including the patents for its swallowable pill, were then bought by Otsuka.

These two companies hold a series of patents related to the design of smart tablets that cannot be eaten, so even if the technology company wants to continue where Motorola left off today, it will face major obstacles. It may be necessary to license smart pill designs from Otsuka, and even if it does, it seems highly unlikely that such a pill will be popular with consumers.

Motorola would always have its work cut out for it to convince anyone that it was worth swallowing a digital pill to avoid the need to remember their password. However, in a way, this idea was not as unusual as it might seem. People really wanted to have a contactless digital authentication method that allowed them to access their electronics – they just didn’t want to have to swallow anything to do it.

Rather than relying on a pill in your stomach, smartphone users today have the option to unlock their device using biometrics. The Face ID feature on iPhones can unlock a user’s phone just by looking at it, while fingerprint sensors are an equally convenient option. Using a fingerprint to unlock the phone also reduces the chance of accidental unlocking, which is almost impossible with a swallowed pill.

At a 2013 conference, Dugan said a digital tablet would allow him to unlock doors and start his car with just a touch. Also, technology that works in the same way exists today: digital car keys allow drivers to use their phones to open their cars with their smartphones, and although they are not without their risks, they are considered less secure than wireless key chains.

International hotel chains such as Marriott and Accor also allow guests to open their room door using their mobile phones instead of a traditional key card. Using a phone as a booster instead of a pill is easy, and most importantly, no swallowing is required.