Steerable endoscope and improved method of insertion
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorAmir Belson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for advancing an instrument along an arbitrary path includes a flexible and steerable instrument and an electronic memory configured to store a three-dimensional model of the path, the three-dimension model being generated based on signals from the instrument as it traverses along the path. The system further includes an electronic motion controller logically coupled to the electronic memory, wherein the electronic motion controller is configured to automatically control the instrument to traverse the path based on the three dimensional model.
Claims20
A system for advancing an instrument along an arbitrary path, comprising:
- a flexible and steerable instrument, the instrument including a distal portion configured to be selectively steered to assume a selected three-dimensional curve during advancement along an arbitrary path;
- and
- an electronic motion controller operably coupled to the instrument to receive signals from the instrument representing a three-dimensional model of the three-dimensional curve, the electronic motion controller comprising electronic memory configured to store the three-dimensional model based on the signals received from the instrument as the instrument traverses along the path and assumes the selected three-dimensional curve.
A system for controlling movement of a steerable instrument along a path, comprising:
- a flexible and steerable instrument having a proximal portion comprising a plurality of interconnected segments, each segment being coupled with a respective actuator of a plurality of actuators;
- and
- an electronic motion controller logically coupled to an electronic memory, wherein the electronic motion controller is configured to:
- selectively steer a distal portion of the instrument in one or both of two steering directions orthogonal to one another and to an advancement direction of the instrument to assume a selected three-dimensional curve during advancement of the instrument along an arbitrary path,
- generate a three-dimensional model of the selected three-dimensional curve in the electronic memory based on information related to positions of segments of the instrument along a length of the instrument received during advancement of the instrument along the arbitrary path,
- control at least the proximal portion of the instrument by controlling the actuators to linearly assume the selected three-dimensional curve of the distal portion in an infinitely variable motion while the instrument is advanced distally along the arbitrary path, and
- propagate a measured length of at least one side of the distal portion from the selected three-dimensional curve to at least one side of the proximal portion while advancing the instrument distally along the arbitrary path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.