Fig. 3. Theragrippers can apply sufficient force to penetrate the mucosa.

(A) Plot of the force generated by a theragripper as a function of the percentage of folding, generated by FEM. Each claw of the theragripper can generate a maximum force of around 0.6 μN per hinge. Insets show the simulated configurations at different stages of the folding process marked by red dots. The colors in the legend indicate the magnitude of the von Mises stress in the gripper. (B) Close-up SEM image of the tip of a theragripper, showing the cross section of the tip having a width (W) of approximately 3.1 μm and a height (H) of 1.6 μm. To estimate the pressure exerted by this tip as the gripper actuates, we used the Hertz contact mechanics model and assumed the tip to be a sphere of diameter 1.6 to 3.1 μm. (C) Ex vivo experiment showing many theragrippers latching onto the colon of a rat. The inset shows the bright-field zoomed-in image of a single theragripper. (D) μ-CT image of the cross section of a theragripper penetrating into the colon ex vivo. (E) SEM image of a theragripper latching onto the colon mucosa ex vivo. (F) Zoomed-in image of the red outlined region in (E), showing the penetration of the claw into the colon tissue.