Navigating biomedical instruments inside the brain remains challenging and high-risk. The delicate nature of the tissues involved requires the development of cutting-edge robotic technologies to enhance precision and safety. In response to these demands, this paper presents a novel ribbon-shaped, tendon-driven continuum microrobot designed explicitly to navigate through brain tissues. The microrobot has a cross-sectional area of 1 mm2, and its design is readily compatible with conventional microfabrication techniques for further miniaturization. The flat geometry aims to provide superior maneuverability and opens up new challenges for modeling and control. We detail the design methodology and fabrication, followed by in vitro characterization and testing within brain tissue phantoms.

Soft, wearable systems hold promise for a wide variety of new or enhanced applications in the realm of human-computer interaction, physiological monitoring, wear-able robotics, and a host of other human-centric devices. Soft sensor systems have been developed concurrently in order to allow these wearable systems to respond intelligently with their surroundings. A recently reported sensing mechanism based on the strain-mediated contact in anisotropically resistive structures (SCARS) is an attractive solution due to its high sensing resolution, low-profile nature, and high mechanical resilience. Furthermore, the resistance-based output provides a simple electronic readout, facilitating its use in a wide variety of applications. However, previous iterations of the sensing mech-anism have exhibited stress relaxation and hysteretic behaviors that limit the scope of its use. Here, we report an iteration of the SCARS mechanism that uses silicone-based materials with low mechanical loss in order to improve the sensor signal stability and bandwidth. A new fabrication approach is developed which permits the incorporation of a liquid elastomer adhesive layer while also preserving the SCARS sensing functionality. The silicone-based SCARS sensors exhibited fast stress relaxation response (< 1 s) and reduced cyclic drift properties by more than half that of previously reported designs. A physiological monitoring demonstration is presented, validating that the new sensor design is mechanically resilient to such applications and has potential for use in real-world wearable use cases.