Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100163057 | STERILE SURGICAL ADAPTOR - A sterile adaptor, a sterile drape with the integrated sterile adaptor, and a telerobotic surgical system including the sterile drape with a drape interface are provided. The adaptor, drape, and system allow for draping portions of a telerobotic surgical system to maintain a sterile barrier between the sterile surgical field and the non-sterile robotic system while also providing an interface for transferring mechanical and electrical energy and signals between a robotic arm and a surgical instrument in the sterile field. | 07-01-2010 |
20100174293 | STERILE SURGICAL ADAPTOR - A sterile drape with integrated sterile adaptor, a telerobotic surgical system, and method of use are provided for draping portions of a telerobotic surgical system to maintain a sterile barrier between the sterile surgical field and the non-sterile robotic system while also providing an interface for transferring mechanical and electrical energy and signals. | 07-08-2010 |
20100200002 | STERILE SURGICAL DRAPE - An improved sterile drape, system, and method for draping portions of a telerobotic surgical system are provided. In one embodiment, a sterile drape includes an exterior surface adjacent to a sterile field for performing a surgical procedure, and an interior surface forming a cavity for receiving the non-sterile portion of a robotic surgical system, such as a manipulator. The drape further includes a fastener coupled to the exterior surface for securing the sterile drape to the non-sterile portion of the robotic surgical system while reducing the volume of the sterile drape. Advantageously, the drape allows for quick and simple installation and increases visualization of the patient by reducing the size of the drape with more form fitting features, while allowing for freedom of movement of the manipulator. | 08-12-2010 |
20100228284 | SURGICAL TOOL HAVING POSITIVELY POSITIONABLE TENDON-ACTUATED MULTI-DISK WRIST JOINT - The present invention is directed to a tool having a wrist mechanism that provides pitch and yaw rotation in such a way that the tool has no singularity in roll, pitch, and yaw. A positively positionable multi-disk wrist mechanism includes a plurality of disks or vertebrae stacked in series. Each vertebra is configured to rotate in pitch or in yaw with respect to each neighboring vertebra. Actuation cables are used to manipulate and control movement of the vertebrae. In specific embodiments, some of the cables are distal cables that extend from a proximal vertebra through one or more intermediate vertebrae to a distal vertebra, while the remaining cables are medial cables that extend from the proximal vertebra to one or more of the intermediate vertebrae. The cables are actuated by a pivoted plate cable actuator mechanism. In specific embodiments, the actuator mechanism includes a plurality of small radius holes or grooves for receiving the medial cables and a plurality of large radius holes or grooves for receiving the distal cables. The holes or grooves restrain the medial cables to a small radius of motion and the distal cables to a large radius of motion, so that the medial cables to the medial vertebra move only a fraction of the amount as the distal cables to the distal vertebra, so as to achieve precise control and manipulation of the vertebrae. | 09-09-2010 |
20110028991 | Cardiac Tissue Ablation Instrument with Flexible Wrist - An articulate minimally invasive surgical instrument with a flexible wrist to facilitate the safe placement and provide visual verification of the ablation catheter or other devices in Cardiac Tissue Ablation (CTA) treatments is described. In one embodiment, the instrument is an endoscope which has an elongate shaft, a flexible wrist at the working end of the shaft, and a vision scope lens at the tip of the flexible wrist. The flexible wrist has at least one degree of freedom to provide the desired articulation. It is actuated and controlled by a drive mechanism located in the housing at the distal end of the shaft. The articulation of the endoscope allows images of hard-to-see places to be taken for use in assisting the placement of the ablation catheter on the desired cardiac tissue. The endoscope may further include couplings to releasably attach an ablation device/catheter or a catheter guide to the endoscope thereby further utilizing the endoscope articulation to facilitate placement of the ablation catheter on hard-to-reach cardiac tissues. In another embodiment, the articulate instrument is a grasper or any other instrument with a flexible wrist and a built-in lumen to allow an endoscope to insert and be guided to the distal end of the instrument. | 02-03-2011 |
20110118755 | Flexible Wrist for Surgical Tool - The present invention is directed to a tool having a wrist mechanism that provides pitch and yaw rotation in such a way that the tool has no singularity in roll, pitch, and yaw. In one embodiment, a minimally invasive surgical instrument comprises an elongate shaft having a working end, a proximal end, and a shaft axis between the working end and the proximal end; and an end effector. A wrist member has a flexible tube including an axis extending through an interior surrounded by a wall. The wall of the flexible tube includes a plurality of lumens oriented generally parallel to the axis of the flexible tube. The wrist member has a proximal portion connected to the working end of the elongate shaft and a distal portion connected to the end effector. A plurality of actuation cables have distal portions connected to the end effector and extend from the distal portion through the lumens of the wall of the wrist member toward the elongate shaft to proximal portions which are actuatable to bend the wrist member in pitch rotation and yaw rotation. | 05-19-2011 |
20110125166 | Flexible Wrist for Surgical Tool - The present invention is directed to a tool having a wrist mechanism that provides pitch and yaw rotation in such a way that the tool has no singularity in roll, pitch, and yaw. In one embodiment, a minimally invasive surgical instrument comprises an elongate shaft having a working end, a proximal end, and a shaft axis between the working end and the proximal end; and an end effector. A wrist member has a flexible tube including an axis extending through an interior surrounded by a wall. The wall of the flexible tube includes a plurality of lumens oriented generally parallel to the axis of the flexible tube. The wrist member has a proximal portion connected to the working end of the elongate shaft and a distal portion connected to the end effector. A plurality of actuation cables have distal portions connected to the end effector and extend from the distal portion through the lumens of the wall of the wrist member toward the elongate shaft to proximal portions which are actuatable to bend the wrist member in pitch rotation and yaw rotation. | 05-26-2011 |
20110218551 | INSTRUMENT INTERFACE OF A ROBOTIC SURGICAL SYSTEM - An instrument interface of a robotic manipulator and a surgical system including the instrument interface are provided. In one embodiment, the instrument interface includes a spring-loaded input for providing axial load and torque to a sterile adaptor capable of operably coupling an instrument. In another embodiment, a robotic surgical manipulator system includes a manipulator assembly, including a base link operably coupled to a distal end of a manipulator arm, and a carriage link movably coupled to the base link along a lengthwise axis, the carriage link including an integrated instrument interface. The system further includes an instrument operably coupled to the carriage link via the instrument interface, and a processor operably coupled to the manipulator assembly for sensing presence of the instrument. | 09-08-2011 |
20110277579 | Cable Re-ordering Device - A cable guide re-orders a plurality of cables. A first guide plate has a plurality of first guide holes that receive a plurality of cables in a first order. A second guide plate has a plurality of second guide holes that receive the plurality of cables in a different second order. An intermediate guide plate is located between the first and second guide plates. The intermediate guide plate has a plurality of intermediate guide holes. Each of the intermediate guide holes receives one of the plurality of cables and causes a change of direction in the cable to facilitate the change from the first to the second order. The intermediate guide plate may further include cable passages to allow some cables to pass through without changing direction. There may be more than one intermediate guide plate. The cables may change from a generally linear to a generally circular arrangement. | 11-17-2011 |
20130012928 | FLEXIBLE WRIST FOR SURGICAL TOOL - A tool having a wrist mechanism that provides pitch and yaw rotation in such a way that the tool has no singularity in roll, pitch, and yaw. In one embodiment, a minimally invasive surgical instrument comprises an elongate shaft having a working end, a proximal end, and a shaft axis between the working end and the proximal end; and an end effector. A wrist member has a flexible tube including an axis extending through an interior surrounded by a wall. The wall of the flexible tube includes a plurality of lumens through which actuation cables extend, the lumens oriented generally parallel to the axis of the flexible tube. The wrist member has a proximal portion connected to the working end of the elongate shaft and a distal portion connected to the end effector. | 01-10-2013 |
20130096540 | FLEXIBLE WRIST FOR SURGICAL TOOL - The present invention is directed to a tool having a wrist mechanism that provides pitch and yaw rotation in such a way that the tool has no singularity in roll, pitch, and yaw. In one embodiment, a minimally invasive surgical instrument comprises includes an elongate shaft having a working end, a proximal end, a shaft axis between the working end and the proximal end, and an end effector. A wrist member has a flexible tube including an axis extending through an interior surrounded by a wall. The wall of the flexible tube includes a plurality of lumens oriented generally parallel to the axis of the flexible tube. The wrist member has a proximal portion connected to the working end of the elongate shaft and a distal portion connected to the end effector. | 04-18-2013 |
20130123805 | SHEATH FOR SURGICAL INSTRUMENT - A surgical apparatus includes a shaft having a proximal end and a distal end, an end effector coupled to the distal end of the shaft, and a sheath disposed on an external surface of the instrument shaft. The sheath includes a material that is permeable to gas so as to permit equalization of a pressure differential after insertion of the sheath and shaft into an environment at a surgical insufflation gas pressure. The pressure differential is between an insufflation gas pressure and an initial pressure lower than the insufflation gas pressure. | 05-16-2013 |
20130331858 | INSTRUMENT INTERFACE OF A ROBOTIC SURGICAL SYSTEM - An instrument interface of a robotic manipulator and a surgical system including the instrument interface are provided. In one embodiment, the instrument interface includes a spring-loaded input for providing axial load and torque to a sterile adaptor capable of operably coupling an instrument. In another embodiment, a robotic surgical manipulator system includes a manipulator assembly, including a base link operably coupled to a distal end of a manipulator arm, and a carriage link movably coupled to the base link along a lengthwise axis, the carriage link including an integrated instrument interface. The system further includes an instrument operably coupled to the carriage link via the instrument interface, and a processor operably coupled to the manipulator assembly for sensing presence of the instrument. | 12-12-2013 |
20150047454 | LEVER ACTUATED GIMBAL PLATE - A force transmission transmits forces received by three levers to an input gimbal plate having three support points. The input gimbal play may in turn transmit the force to a wrist assembly coupled to a surgical tool. A first gimbal support point is supported by a first lever having a fulcrum with one degree of rotational freedom. Second and third gimbal support points may be supported by second and third levers having fulcrums with two degrees of rotational freedom. These fulcrums may include a first axle coupled to the lever and a second axle that supports the first axle and provides the fulcrum for the supported lever. A spring may draw the second and third levers toward one another. The force transmission may include a parallelogram linkage that includes a rocker link pivotally coupled to the first lever and having a flat surface that supports the first gimbal support point. | 02-19-2015 |
20150051034 | ANGLED INSTRUMENT SHAFT ROLL ACTUATOR - A force transmission includes an input axle having an input axis of rotation that receives a rotational input. An input capstan is fixed to the input axle. An output capstan is fixed to a main tube bushing. The output capstan and main tube bushing have an output axis of rotation that is at an angle to the input axis of rotation. A cable couples the rotation of the input capstan to rotate the output capstan and the main tube bushing. At least one of the input capstan and the output capstan is tapered such that the overall path length of the cable remains substantially the same throughout the range of motion of the capstans. | 02-19-2015 |
20150051618 | ROTARY INPUT FOR LEVER ACTUATION - A surgical instrument includes a surgical end effector coupled to an elongate tube and a rod that passes through the elongate tube. A control mechanism coupled to the elongate tube includes an input axle having a first axis of rotation, an idler pulley having a second axis of rotation perpendicular to the first axis, and a lever coupled to the rod and having a third axis of rotation parallel to the second axis. First and second capstans are fixed to the input axle. Cables pass over the idler pulley and are coupled to the lever. Rotating the input axle in a first direction winds a first cable onto the first capstan, rotates the lever, and moves the rod in a second direction. Rotating the input axle opposite the first direction winds a second cable onto the second capstan, rotates the lever, and moves the rod opposite the second direction. | 02-19-2015 |
20150051619 | ROTARY INPUT LEVER GIMBAL - A force transmission transmits a force received by two rotational inputs to an output gimbal plate. Two capstans receive the rotational input. The capstans drive cables connected to three levers. A cable is connected directly from each of the capstans to one of two levers. Another cable is connected to both capstans and passes over a pulley rotatably coupled to the third lever. Each of three linkages has a first end coupled to one of the three levers and a second end coupled to the output gimbal plate. Rotation of each of the first and the second input capstans causes the three cables to move the three levers such that there is no net movement of the three seconds ends of the linkages with respect to the center of motion of the output gimbal plate. The output gimbal plate may orient a mechanically actuated surgical tool. | 02-19-2015 |
20150066002 | APPARATUS FOR PITCH AND YAW ROTATION - The present invention is directed to a tool having a wrist mechanism that provides pitch and yaw rotation in such a way that the tool has no singularity in roll, pitch, and yaw. A positively positionable multi-disk wrist mechanism includes a plurality of disks or vertebrae stacked in series. Each vertebra is configured to rotate in pitch or in yaw with respect to each neighboring vertebra. Actuation cables are used to manipulate and control movement of the vertebrae. In specific embodiments, some of the cables are distal cables that extend from a proximal vertebra through one or more intermediate vertebrae to a distal vertebra, while the remaining cables are medial cables that extend from the proximal vertebra to one or more of the intermediate vertebrae. The cables are actuated by a pivoted plate cable actuator mechanism. In specific embodiments, the actuator mechanism includes a plurality of small radius holes or grooves for receiving the medial cables and a plurality of large radius holes or grooves for receiving the distal cables. The holes or grooves restrain the medial cables to a small radius of motion and the distal cables to a large radius of motion, so that the medial cables to the medial vertebra move only a fraction of the amount as the distal cables to the distal vertebra, so as to achieve precise control and manipulation of the vertebrae. | 03-05-2015 |