Page 223 - Flexible Robotics in Medicine
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210 Chapter 8
Figure 8.17
Bendable guide manipulator and flexible drill to drill through a pig ear.
8.4.3.2 Pig’s ear
Next, we used a pig’s ear to carry out more drilling experiments (Fig. 8.17). Using the same
settings as the silicone rubber, we drilled the 5 mm thick pig ear.
For the pig’s ear experiment, the time taken for the drill to pierce through was about
35 seconds (after averaging three experiments). Just like when using the silicone
rubber, the drilling process was stable, and the hole drilled was about 1 mm in
diameter.
8.4.3.3 Problems faced during the experiment
One major problem faced during the experiment was that the extension spring and the
sections had too much friction when it is at a bend, and therefore may encounter difficulty
when rotating. This is due to the extension spring outer diameter being too close to the
inner diameter of the aluminum sections. The way to solve this would be to use a smaller
diameter extension spring.
