An ingestible robotic pill uses Japanese paper-cutting patterns to anchor itself inside the stomach for an entire week.
Most smart pills are quickly swept through the digestive tract, making long-term monitoring nearly impossible. This new device utilizes kirigami-structured circuits and joints that react to heat to change shape once they reach the gut. By unfolding into a specific geometry, the capsule safely wedges itself in place to collect continuous data. It can stay for seven days before eventually passing through the system naturally. This technology offers a way to monitor chronic stomach conditions without the need for invasive endoscopies or hospital stays.
Kirigami-Structured Electronic Capsule for Long-Term Continuous Gastric Monitoring
arXiv · 2605.06045
Ingestible electronic systems enable non-invasive, in situ sensing within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, yet clinical translation has been limited by uncontrolled transit, short operational lifetimes, and unreliable wireless communication that prevent continuous monitoring. Here, we present a gastric-resident ingestible robotic platform that achieves week-long operation through integration of a bioinspired, electrically triggered release mechanism with a kirigami-enabled electronic architectur