Apparatus for simulating insertion of an elongated instrument into a structure including a pulley and a pulley position sensing arrangement

An apparatus for simulating insertion of an inner elongated instrument attached to a tether into a structure through an outer elongated instrument, the apparatus comprising:

• a casing having an aperture for receiving the outer elongated instrument therethrough;
• a longitudinal guide fixedly mounted in the casing;
• a carriage comprising a mounting plate and a shaft rotationally mounted through the mounting plate, the shaft receiving a distal end of the outer elongated instrument, the carriage being slidably mounted onto the longitudinal guide for translation thereon according to a translation of the outer elongated instrument through the aperture of the casing;
• a carriage position sensing element for sensing a longitudinal position of the carriage along the longitudinal guide;
• a pulley having an outer tether receiving groove on a peripheral portion thereof and an anchoring element therein for anchoring a distal end of a tether extending through the outer elongated instrument, the pulley being rotatably mounted on the carriage for rotating in response to a pulling movement of the tether by a user of the outer elongated instrument in the outer elongated instrument;
• a pulley position sensing arrangement for sensing an angular position of the pulley representative of a relative longitudinal position of the inner elongated instrument attached to the tether;
• and
• a feedback force actuator mounted on the carriage for applying resistive force to a translation of the carriage on the longitudinal guide according to the sensed longitudinal position of the carriage, the feedback force actuator being further connected to an axle of the pulley for applying resistive force to a rotation of the pulley according to the sensed angular position of the pulley.