Automated assembly device to tolerate blade variation

A system for facilitating the assembly of a surgical instrument including a knife, the system comprising:

• a fixture for housing a knife of the surgical instrument, the knife defining a component of a subassembly;
• a blade grip movable relative to the fixture, the blade grip configured to urge the knife into a restrained position for subsequent assembly of an additional instrument component relative to the knife, wherein the blade grip includes at least one tapered finger extending in the lateral direction, wherein a leading portion of the tapered finger encounters the knife in an unrestrained position and a trailing portion of the tapered finger encounters the knife in the restrained position;
• a component block configured to restrain the additional instrument component, the component block moveable relative to the fixture to approximate the additional instrument component and the knife;
• a component actuator operatively associated with the component block to move the component block in a longitudinal direction relative to the fixture;
• a knife block, the knife block configured to move relative to the fixture to define a longitudinal position of the knife within the subassembly;
• and
• a grip actuator configured to move the blade grip relative to the fixture, wherein the grip actuator is configured to move the blade grip in a lateral direction relative to the knife.