FORGUIDE

The FORGUIDE mechanism enables making a shaft-guide out of cheap standard parts that is rigidified by creating a laminate that consists of a spring, cables and expandable tube. The connection between these three layers is obtained by friction. The bench tests showed that the FORGUIDE prototype FGP-01 of only 5.5 mm diameter could provide flexural rigidities up to 1541 Ncm2 , which far exceeds the flexural rigidity of flexible endoscopes. Furthermore, a bending radius of almost 1 cm could be achieved in the compliant state with the FGP-01 without losing the ability to rigidify.