The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 21, 1997
Filed:
Aug. 23, 1995
Shuichi Takayama, Tokyo, JP;
Takeaki Nakamura, Tokyo, JP;
Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Tokyo, JP;
Akio Nakada, Tokyo, JP;
Yasuhiro Ueda, Tokyo, JP;
Hideyuki Adachi, Tokyo, JP;
Katsunori Sakiyama, Tokyo, JP;
Yasukazu Tatsumi, Tokyo, JP;
Koji Fujio, Tokyo, JP;
Masaaki Hayashi, Tokyo, JP;
Shinji Kaneko, Tokyo, JP;
Yasuo Hirata, Tokyo, JP;
Toshimasa Kawai, Tokyo, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A multi-degree-of-freedom manipulator includes a flexible tube having a plurality of flex portions provided therealong, a plurality of actuators made of shape memory alloy and respectively provided near the flex portions to correspond to the flex portions, for flexing the flex portions, two common energy transmission paths, extending along the flexible tube, for transmitting an energy to the actuators, and selective energy supply members, provided between the common energy transmission paths and the actuators in series, for controlling the energy supplied from the common energy transmission path to the actuators, thereby respectively independently driving the actuators to bend the flexible tube. The manipulator is made by forming electronic circuits in a plurality of regions on a semiconductor substrate, forming wiring regions to connect the electronic circuits with flexible wiring portions, and removing a region of the semiconductor substrate other than a region thereof on which the electronic circuits are formed, thereby forming an actuator controlled chip array, used in the manipulator.