Flexible-manipulator sheath and manipulator
AssigneeOlympus Corporation
InventorsYuta Fujii, Toshihiro Yoshii
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is a flexible-manipulator sheath including: a flexible inner tube having a lumen along a longitudinal direction thereof, the lumen configured to insert a wire; a flexible outer tube disposed to cover an outer circumferential surface of the inner tube, the outer tube having a higher compression stiffness than the inner tube; and a cushioning disposed at a space between an inner surface of the outer tube and an outer surface of the inner tube, wherein the cushioning is formed by at least one of filling the space with a viscous material and disposing an elastic sheet at the space.
Claims15
A flexible-manipulator sheath comprising:
- a flexible inner tube having a lumen along a longitudinal direction thereof, the lumen configured to insert a wire;
- a flexible outer tube disposed to cover an outer circumferential surface of the inner tube, the outer tube having a higher compression stiffness than the inner tube;
- and
- a cushioning disposed at a space between an inner surface of the outer tube and an outer surface of the inner tube,
- wherein the cushioning is formed by at least one of filling the space with a viscous material and disposing an elastic sheet at the space.
A manipulator comprising:
- a flexible sheath;
- an end effector disposed at a distal end of the flexible sheath;
- an actuator disposed at a proximal end of the flexible sheath, the actuator configured to actuate the end effector;
- a wire configured to transmit power to the end effector,
- wherein the flexible sheath comprises:
- a flexible inner tube having a lumen along a longitudinal direction thereof, the lumen configured to insert the wire;
- a flexible outer tube disposed to cover an outer circumferential surface of the inner tube, the outer tube having a higher compression stiffness than the inner tube;
- and
- a cushioning disposed at a space between an inner surface of the outer tube and an outer surface of the inner tube, the cushioning is formed by at least one of filling the space with a viscous material and disposing an elastic sheet at the space.
A manipulator comprising:
- a flexible sheath;
- an end effector at a distal end of the flexible sheath;
- an actuator at a proximal end of the flexible sheath, the actuator configured to actuate the end effector;
- a wire configured to transmit power to the end effector,
- wherein the flexible sheath comprises:
- a flexible inner tube having a lumen along a longitudinal direction thereof, the lumen configured to insert the wire;
- a flexible outer tube disposed to cover an outer circumferential surface of the inner tube, the outer tube having a higher compression stiffness than the inner tube;
- and
- a protrusion formed on an inner surface of the outer tube, the protrusion being formed of an elastic material protruding in a radial direction of the outer tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.