Systems and methods for automatically changing an end-effector on a surgical robot
AssigneeGlobus Medical, Inc.
InventorsNeil R. Crawford, Norbert Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Devices, systems, and methods for automatically exchanging a first end-effector on a robot arm with a second end-effector housed in a docking station. The first end-effector has a clamp that either engages or disengages the robot arm based upon an application of force of the robot arm onto the end-effector. The clamp has a spring loaded clip that disengages the first end-effector to allow the robot arm to move away from the released first end-effector. The robot arm is configured to automatically move to a port of a docking station housing the desired second end-effector using magnetic coils on the robot arm and the docking station to guide the robot arm.
Claims20
A surgical robotic system, comprising:
- a camera tracking system;
- a robot including:
- a computer configured to be in communication with the camera tracking system;
- a robot arm whose movement is configured to be controlled by the computer;
- a first end-effector configured to be connected to the robot arm and having an optical array trackable by the camera tracking system;
- a first magnetic coil coupled to the end effector;
- a first receptacle configured to house the first end-effector and having a second magnetic coil;
- a second receptacle configured to house a second end-effector;
- wherein the computer is configured to automatically move the first end-effector coupled to the robot arm so as to deposit the first end-effector into the first receptacle based on an interaction between the first and second magnetic coils, and then automatically move the robot arm to the second receptacle to couple to the second end-effector housed in the second receptacle.
The system of claim 3, wherein the first end-effector is configured to engage with the robot arm upon removal of the force upon the first end-effector.
A surgical robotic system, comprising:
- a camera tracking system;
- a robot including:
- a computer configured to be in communication with the camera tracking system;
- a robot arm whose movement is configured to be controlled by the computer;
- a first end-effector configured to be connected to the robot arm and having an optical array trackable by the camera tracking system, the first end-effector having a tube configured to receive a plurality of surgical instruments;
- a first magnetic coil coupled to the end effector;
- a docking station including:
- a first receptacle configured to house the first end-effector and having a second magnetic coil;
- and
- a second receptacle configured to house a second end-effector and having a third magnetic coil;
- wherein the computer is configured to automatically move the first end-effector coupled to the robot arm so as to deposit the first end-effector into the first receptacle based on an interaction between the first and second magnetic coils, and then automatically move the robot arm to the second receptacle to couple to the second end-effector housed in the second receptacle based on an interaction between the first and third magnetic coils.
The system of claim 13, wherein the first end-effector is configured to engage with the robot arm upon removal of the force upon the first end-effector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.