ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,472,024, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to OLYMPUS Corp. (Tokyo).
"Flexible-manipulator guide member and flexible manipulator" was invented by Ryoji Hyodo (Tokyo), Kosuke Kishi (Tokyo) and Noriaki Yamanaka (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A flexible-manipulator guide member is provided in an inserted portion of a flexible manipulator including the elongated flexible inserted portion, the movable portion disposed at the distal end of the inserted portion, a drive portion disposed at the base end of the inserted portion, and the elongated driving-force transmitting member that transmits motive power of the drive portion to the movabl...