Apparatus and methods for image-guided robotic surgical interventions
AssigneeWorcester Polytechnic Institute
InventorsGregory Fischer, Christopher Nycz, Katie Gandomi, Paulo Carvalho, Zhanyue Zhou
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Abstract
The present invention comprises unique piezo elements which can be configured an controlled to provide motion in any direction. Included are rotor motors capable of being combined around one or more concentric tubes or shafts wherein the motors allow control over each individual tube or shaft. These motors may be used in the manufacture of end effectors for robots. Embodiments include an active surgical drape incorporating means for attaching end effectors and passing through electrical signals, fluids, and mechanical parts. All of the foregoing can function inside an actively scanning MRI.
Claims50
An omnidirectional piezo motor comprising:
- a) at least two piezo electric stacks, each stack comprised of a plurality of piezo electric crystals each crystal having a conductive and a non conductive region, where in the stacks are oriented so the non-conductive regions of each stack are adjacent to each other;
- b) a controller electrically connected to each of the at least 3 stacks for providing a controlling electrical signal to each piezo electric stack
The ominidirection piezo motor of claim 3 wherein the waveforms are sine or cosine.
The omnidirectional piezo motor 7 where the pillars can be coupled and energized in unique ways to enact a driving force within any a contact surface in contact with the actuator tip and the force is acting in a direction tangent to that point of contact and perpendicular to the normal axis of contact
A system of tools and or improvements to enable MRI guided interventions, comprising a modular and configurable architecture;
- said architecture separating functional elements for MRI guided technologies. This includes:
- a. Modular controller configuration, such that swappable card based drivers can be interchanged to operate a variety of MRI compatible actuators, sensors, and interface devices.
- b. An MRI compatible central computing/controller system
- c. An MRI compatible communication route through the patch panel of the control room to connect to a non-mri compatible user interface;
- i. User interface could be a standalone computer;
- ii. User interface could be directly tied to control computer.
A module as described in 35, in which the module responds to motion or vibration induced upon it by integrated control of the scanner system magnetic field such as controlling frequency, intensity or direction of magnetic field.
A module such as in 47, wherein the interface for the active surgical drape can be used as a common interface for swappable end effectors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.