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US 6,594,552 B1Granted
Grip strength with tactile feedback for robotic surgery
AssigneeIntuitive Surgical, Inc.
InventorsWilliam C. Nowlin, Gary S. Guthart, Robert G. Younge, Thomas G. Cooper, Craig Gerbi, Steven J. Blumenkranz, Dean F. Hoornaert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Surgical robots and other telepresence systems have enhanced grip actuation for manipulating tissues and objects with small sizes. A master/slave system is used in which an error signal or gain is artificially altered when grip members are near a closed configuration.
Claims24
A method comprising:
- squeezing first and second grip members together with a hand of an operator;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the squeezing of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- and
- altering the control relationship when the grip members are near a closed configuration;
- wherein the control relationship imposes a following force on the end effector elements with an actuator so that the following force varies in response to a misalignment between a grip separation and an end effector separation.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- squeezing first and second grip members together with a hand of an operator;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the squeezing of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- and
- altering the control relationship when the grip members are near a closed configuration,
- wherein the control relationship altering step is performed so that an actuator imposes a first following force when the grip members are away from the closed position and a difference between a first grip separation and a first end effector separation defines a first separation misalignment, and so that the actuator imposes a second following force when the grip member are adjacent the closed position with the first misalignment, the second following force being different than the first following force.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- squeezing first and second grip members together with a hand of an operator;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the squeezing of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- altering the control relationship when the grip members are near a closed configuration,
- detaching the end effector elements from a servomechanism and attaching alternative first and second end effector elements, the alternative end effector elements having different strengths than the end effector elements;
- and
- revising the control relationship altering step in response to the strengths of the alternative end effector elements.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- squeezing first and second grip members together with a hand of an operator;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the squeezing of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- and
- altering the control relationship when the grip members are near a closed configuration,
- wherein the end effector elements comprise cooperating surgical instrument jaws defining the closed configuration by engagement therebetween, and wherein the control relationship altering step comprises imposing a greater following force against an object for a given separation misalignment when the jaws are near the closed configuration so as to allow the jaws to impose a maximum following force with a small tissue therebetween.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- squeezing first and second grip members together with a hand of an operator;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the squeezing of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- altering the control relationship when the grip members are near a closed configuration;
- and
- moving the end effector elements in a workspace with uniform following forces in response to movement of the grip elements in a plurality of degrees of freedom substantially throughout associated ranges of motion of the end effector.
2 more elements
A method comprising:
- squeezing first and second grip members together with a hand of an operator;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the squeezing of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- and
- altering the control relationship when the grip members are near a closed configuration;
- and
- applying a feedback following force against the grip separation members in response to the separation misalignment.
3 more elements
A method of manipulating a surgical instrument comprising a first and second grip members, the method comprising:
- moving the first and second grip members towards each other;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the movement of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- and
- altering the control relationship between the end effector elements and grip members when the grip members reach a predetermined separation,
- wherein altering the control relationship between the end effector elements and grip members comprises changing the one-to-one correspondence.
2 more elements
A method of manipulating a surgical instrument comprising a first and second grip members, the method comprising:
- moving the first and second grip members towards each other;
- moving first and second end effector elements in response to the movement of the grip members according to a control relationship;
- and
- altering the control relationship between the end effector elements and grip members when the grip members reach a predetermined separation;
- wherein altering the control relationship between the end effector elements and grip comprises applying an altered gripping strength to the end effectors.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.