Back to results
US 11,633,246 B2Granted
Actuated grips for controller
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorsMatthew Cavalier, Brian Luptak, Gregory W. Dachs, II
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Implementations relate to actuated grips for a controller. In some implementations, a controller includes a central member, a grip member coupled to the central member and moveable in a grip degree of freedom, a shaft coupled to the grip member, and an actuator coupled to the shaft and operative to output an actuator force on the shaft. The actuator force causes a grip force to be applied via the shaft to the grip member in the grip degree of freedom.
Claims26
A controller comprising:
- a central member;
- a grip member coupled to the central member and moveable in a grip degree of freedom;
- a shaft coupled to the grip member;
- an actuator coupled to the shaft and operative to output actuator forces to the shaft, wherein the actuator is a rotary actuator and the actuator forces are rotational forces, wherein the actuator forces are output based on control signals received by the actuator;
- and
- a transmission coupled between the rotary actuator and the shaft, wherein the transmission comprises a mechanism configured to convert the rotational forces to linear forces applied along a longitudinal axis of the shaft,
- wherein the actuator forces are transmitted via the shaft to the grip member in the grip degree of freedom, and the shaft is decoupled in rotation from the actuator.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- sensing, with one or more sensors, one or more positions of one or more grip members of a controller in one or more respective grip degrees of freedom of the one or more grip members, the one or more grip members coupled to a central member and to a shaft of the controller, wherein the one or more positions are used to control movement of an end effector of a slave device in communication with the controller;
- and
- applying forces to the one or more grip members by controlling one or more actuators coupled to the shaft to output the forces to the shaft, wherein the forces are output in the respective grip degrees of freedom of the one or more grip members by sending control signals to the one or more actuators, and wherein the forces are applied based on at least one force profile associated with a type of the end effector controlled by the one or more grip members,
- wherein the one or more actuators are one or more rotary actuators and the forces are rotational forces,
- wherein a transmission coupled between the one or more actuators and the shaft comprises a mechanism that converts the rotational forces to linear forces applied to the shaft along a longitudinal axis of the shaft, and
- wherein the forces are transmitted via the shaft to the one or more grip members in the one or more grip degrees of freedom, and the shaft is decoupled in rotation from the one or more actuators.
3 more elements
A controller comprising:
- a central member;
- a grip member coupled to the central member and moveable in a grip degree of freedom;
- a shaft coupled to the grip member;
- an actuator coupled to the shaft and operative to output actuator forces to the shaft, wherein the actuator forces are output based on control signals received by the actuator, and the actuator forces are transmitted via the shaft to the grip member in the grip degree of freedom;
- and
- a spring coupled between one end of the shaft and the central member, wherein the spring is configured to compress in response to the grip member moving in a first direction in the grip degree of freedom and decompress in response to the grip member moving in a second direction in the grip degree of freedom.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.