End of life indicator for robotic surgical instruments

Abstract

A surgical tool includes a drive housing, an indicator assembly arranged within the drive housing and actuatable to provide visual indication that the surgical tool has exhausted its useful life. The indicator assembly includes a drive input rotatably coupled to the bottom of the drive housing. The drive input further including a riser and a rim where the riser contains a passage therethrough. The indicator assembly further includes an indicator shaft extending through the passage along a longitudinal axis coaxially aligned with the drive input. The drive input is rotated to actuate the indicator assembly between a non-activated state, where the indicator shaft is recessed into the drive housing, and an activated state, where the indicator shaft extends out of the drive housing to provide the visual indication.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.