A surgical tool for compact articulating during surgical procedures includesa pitch cable, at least one yaw cable, a first link, a second link, at leastone end- effectorlink, and at least one tensioning mechanism. The first link has a pitch jointend with a pitchjoint pin and at least one yaw cable guide channel. The second link has a yawjoint endwith a yaw joint pin. The second link is rotatably connected to the pitchjoint pin. The atleast one end-effector link is rotatably connected to said yaw joint pin. Theyaw cables arecoupled to the end-effector links such that the yaw cables can actuate the end-effector linksabout the yaw joint pin. The yaw cable guide channel is configured such thatthe yaw cablestravel through a smooth trajectory to the end-effector links. The tensioningmechanism isconfigured to maintain a constant length.
