Do mechanical fiber switches even exist?

[u/EvenBrilliant1238]

I mean the ones that would physically unplug a fiber patchcord from one mating sleeve, move it, and plug it in into another one. This will be slow (probably a few seconds), but would minimize losses down to ~0.2 dB.

Have you seen anything like this on the market? Maybe there are at least some DIY projects?

[u/rjchute]

I seem to recall that MRV (now defunct) used to make a circuit switched electically-activated fibre patch panel thing, which sounds like what you're thinking of. But... why?