Passive preload and capstan drive for surgical instruments
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
InventorGiuseppe Maria Prisco
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system comprises a medical instrument including a rotatable capstan. The rotatable capstan includes a first coupling feature and a drive system including a rotatable drive element. The rotatable drive element includes a second coupling feature. The first and second coupling features have an aligned engagement configuration in which rotation of the rotatable drive element induces rotation of the rotatable capstan and a non-aligned engagement configuration in which rotation of the rotatable drive element does not induce rotation of the rotatable capstan.
Claims20
A robotically controlled medical system, comprising:
- a plurality of drive motors, each drive motor having a drive shaft with a drive shaft coupling member;
- and
- a medical instrument, comprising:
- a flexible tubular shaft comprising a proximal end and a distal end;
- a backend mechanism coupled to the proximal end of the flexible tubular shaft, the backend mechanism comprising a plurality of capstans, each capstan including a bore sized for concentric engagement with a drive shaft coupling member of a respective drive motor of the plurality of drive motors such that rotation of the drive shaft of the respective drive motor causes rotation of the capstan about a drive axis concentric with the bore;
- and
- a plurality of tendons including a first tendon and a second tendon, wherein the first tendon is coupled to a first capstan of the plurality of capstans and the second tendon is coupled to a second capstan of the plurality of capstans, wherein the first tendon and the second tendon are coupled to a member disposed at the distal end of the flexible tubular shaft and are configured to move the member in opposing directions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.