Flexibly foldable arm

摘要

A flexibly foldable arm includes a series of arm sections each constituted by a plural number of joint members pivotally and serially connected to one another by connector shafts for rotation about two perpendicularly intersecting axes; a pair of pulleys mounted the connector shafts at each end of the joint members; and a pair of arm operating wires having base ends thereof wound in opposite directions on winding shafts of drive motors in such a manner as to alternately reel up or off the wires threaded around paired pulleys in each arm section to flex the same into a curve folded state as a whole by forward and reverse rotations of the motors. By driving the independently flexible arm sections which are connected in series, the arm can be flexed into an arbitrary shape irrespective of existence of an object to be gripped and can be folded to grip an object if the latter is in the way of the flexing movement of the arm.