Page 113 - Flexible Robotics in Medicine

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of forming a series of ball joints in the body of our flexible manipulator. With these joints,
smooth, stable bending of the manipulator in multiple directions can be achieved. This
design is facilitated by the stable positioning of the ball bearings, as the hollow cylindrical
segments encapsulate the ball bearings, and the coupling cables prevent the ball bearings
from being disengaged from their adjacent cylindrical segments. At the same time, the ball
bearings remain free to rotate about the cylindrical segments in various directions.

Overall, the novelty of our design is in using this complementary configuration of grooves
and ball bearings to enable stable, omnidirectional bending of the flexible, steerable
manipulator. These components also have a simple design that allows for easy fabrication
and miniaturization. to increase the stability of each segment while bending, we could add
soft materials between each segment.

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