System and method for providing surgical instrument force feedback
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorsLawton N. Verner, Stephen J. Blumenkranz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of an actuated cannula seal are disclosed In some embodiments, a cannula seal includes a base portion that engages with a cannula; and a seal portion integrally formed with the base portion, the sealing portion capable of engaging with an instrument shaft, the sealing portion capable of being actuated by an actuator so that the sealing portion is continually in motion relative to the instrument shaft. The actuation of the sealing portion can be accomplished by rotation or vibration of the sealing portion relative to the instrument shaft.
Claims20
A method of providing surgical instrument force feedback, comprising:
- actuating a sealing portion of a cannula seal to be in motion with respect to a shaft of a surgical instrument inserted through the sealing portion;
- determining a measured force along an insertion axis of the shaft inserted through the sealing portion in motion;
- correcting the measured force for modeled friction of the cannula seal to generate corrected force data;
- and
- transmitting the corrected force data to be perceived by a surgeon controlling the surgical instrument.
A surgical system, comprising:
- a cannula seal comprising a seal portion that seals against a shaft of a surgical instrument;
- an actuator that places the seal portion in continuous motion relative to the shaft of the surgical instrument inserted through the seal portion;
- one or more force sensors that sense an insertion axis force along the shaft of the surgical instrument inserted through the seal portion and generate corresponding insertion axis force data;
- and
- a feedback system coupled to receive the insertion axis force data from the one or more force sensors as the surgical instrument shaft moves through the seal portion, and coupled to output the insertion axis force data corrected for modeled friction of the cannula seal to a surgeon controlling the surgical instrument.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.