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US 10,478,257 B2Granted
Robotic surgical tool, system, and method
AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsMark Overmyer, Jeffrey S. Swayze
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and devices are provided for robotic surgery, and in particular for measuring a rotational position of elongate shafts of surgical tools. For example, a surgical tool is provided with an elongate shaft having an end effector at a distal end thereof. The elongate shaft is rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the shaft, and the surgical tool is configured to measure a rotational position of the shaft about the longitudinal axis relative to an initial position.
Claims20
A robotic surgical tool, comprising:
- a housing configured to couple to a surgical robot;
- an elongate shaft extending distally from the housing and having an end effector coupled to a distal end thereof, at least a portion of the elongate shaft being rotatable;
- and
- a belt coupled to the elongate shaft, the belt being configured to indicate a rotational position of the elongate shaft with respect to an initial rotational position of the elongate shaft, the belt including a stop protrusion surrounding an outer perimeter of the belt and configured to prevent rotation of the elongate shaft beyond a preselected maximum rotation position.
1 more element
A surgical system, comprising:
- a surgical tool including an elongate shaft having an end effector at a distal end thereof, the elongate shaft being rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the shaft, the surgical tool having a belt configured to indicate an initial position in which the shaft has been rotated 0 degrees and to indicate a rotational position of the shaft from the initial position to a position beyond 360 degrees of rotation about the longitudinal axis wherein a toothed gear is positioned on the shaft and is operably coupled to the belt.
A surgical method, comprising:
- rotating a surgical tool about a longitudinal axis of an elongate shaft of the surgical tool to thereby rotate an end effector at a distal end of the surgical tool, the surgical tool having a belt and a sensor adjacent to the belt, rotation of the surgical tool causing corresponding rotation of the belt, and the sensor monitoring a plurality of indicators on the belt for indicating a rotational position of the shaft beyond 360 degrees of rotation about the longitudinal axis relative to an initial rotational position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.