Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.

Deka Products Limited Partnership

Segway, Inc.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David W Robinson

Paul W Mohr

Michael Lee Hanuschik

Randal P Goldberg

John W Zabinski

David W Weir

Thomas R Nixon

Paul Millman

Mark W Zimmer

Bruce M Schena

Patrick Flanagan

Kevin Durant

Nitish Swarup

Paul G Griffiths

Roman L Devengenzo

Grant Duque

David Q Larkin

Brandon D Itkowitz

Arjang M Hourtash

John B Morrell

Jason W Hemphill

Margaret M Nixon

Tao Zhao

Wenyi Zhao

Gregory William Dachs, Ii

John David Heinzmann

Matthew R Cavalier

Jason Jiang

J Douglas Field

Simon P Dimaio

Pushkar Hingwe

Salvatore J Brogna

Brian David Hoffman

David W Bailey

Jason Michael Sachs

Jon Stevens

Alan W Petersen

Julio J Santos-Munne

Thomas Moyer

Philip LeMay

Eric L Faulring

Alexander Makhlin

Jon Michael Stevens

Dean Kamen

William C Nowlin

Simon Peter DiMaio

Christopher J Hasser

David D Scott

Paul E Lilagan

Amy E Kerdok

Jeremy B Lund

Ronald K Reich

Steven R Meyer

Mark Earl Froggatt

Gabriel Francis Brisson

Gill A Pratt

Michael R Costa

Amir Hossein Chaghajerdi

Govinda Payyavula

Deepak Ramesh Kapoor

Henry Hazebrouck

Michael Thomas Gansler

Donald Frank Wilson, Jr

Jonathan B Pompa

W Patrick Kelly

Xingchi He

Richard William Arling

Michael Field Kaufman

Benjamin J Schoettgen

Maggie Nixon

Soundararajan Manthiri

A system includes a tool, an input device, a shape sensor system, and a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to determine a state estimate of the input device based on shape information from the shape sensor system, and control the tool based on the state estimate.

Systems and methods for controlling a robotic manipulator or associated tool

Systems and methods for operating an end effector include an end effector for grasping a material, a drive system coupled to the end effector, a user interface, and a processor. The processor is configured to actuate the drive system to clamp the material using the end effector and in response to detecting successful clamping of the material, display a timer on the user interface. The timer provides an indication of when conditions will be safe to proceed with stapling of the material clamped by the end effector.

Systems and methods for operating an end effector

A surgical method is provided, comprising: providing an information structure in a computer readable storage device that associates an indication of surgeon skill level in at least one surgical activity performed using the surgical instrument with a surgical instrument actuator safety state of the surgical instrument for use during performance of the at least one surgical activity using the surgical instrument by a surgeon having the indicated skill level; tracking surgical instrument actuator state of a surgical instrument during performance of a surgical procedure by a surgeon; and transitioning the surgical instrument actuator state of the surgical instrument to the surgical instrument safety state during performance of the at least one surgical activity by the surgeon using the surgical instrument.

Teleoperated surgical system with surgical instrument wear tracking

Systems and methods for moveable element indication include a system. The system includes a robotic assembly configured to support an instrument and a processor. The instrument includes an end effector and a moveable element. The end effector includes a first jaw and a second jaw. The moveable element is moveable from a first position to a second position. The processor is configured to display, on a user interface display, an image of the instrument clamping a material using the first jaw and the second jaw; and superimpose, on the image, a visual indicator of a position of the moveable element relative to the end effector.

System for moveable element position indication

Systems and methods for controlling staple firing include a manipulator, a drive system, and a processor. The manipulator is configured to be releasably coupled to an instrument. The instrument has an end effector comprising a first jaw and a second jaw. The drive system is configured to apply a force or torque to the instrument to cause staple firing to occur using the end effector. The processor is configured to monitor a force or torque applied by the drive system to cause staple firing to occur and in response to determining that the applied force or torque is outside of an acceptable range of force or torque, maintain application of clamping by the first jaw and the second jaw while suspending application of the force or torque that causes the staple firing to occur.

Methods and systems for controlling staple firing

A system comprises a medical tool including a shaft having proximal and distal ends and an articulatable distal portion coupled to the distal end of the shaft. The system also comprises a processing unit including one or more processors. The processing unit is configured to determine a target in a medical environment. The articulatable distal portion is directed toward the target. The processing unit is also configured to determine a motion of at least a portion of the shaft, and in response to the determined motion, control a pose of the articulatable distal portion so that the articulatable distal portion remains directed toward the target.

Systems and methods for controlling tool with articulatable distal portion

A medical robotic system includes a viewer for displaying an image of a work site, a gaze tracker for tracking a gaze point of a user on the viewer, and a processor. The processor is configured to: draw an area or volume defining shape, overlaid on the image of the work site, in a position determined by the gaze tracker; assign a fixed virtual constraint to the shape and constrain movement of a robotic tool according to the fixed virtual constraint; receive a user selected action command selecting an image of patient anatomy; and superimpose the selected image of the patient anatomy over the image of the work site within the shape. The selected image of the patient anatomy is registered to the image of the work site.

Robotic system providing user selectable actions associated with gaze tracking

A method includes moving a stabilization device comprising a stabilization surface relative to a base of a surgical cart, wherein the moving comprises moving the stabilization device from a retracted position in which the stabilization surface is spaced from the ground surface to a deployed position in which the stabilization surface is in contact with the ground surface, and wherein the moving comprises overcoming a biasing force biasing the stabilization device toward the retracted position.

Wheeled cart with vibration reduction device, and related systems and methods

Systems and methods for operating an end effector include an end effector for grasping a material, a drive system coupled to the end effector, and a processor. The processor is configured to use the drive system to grasp a material using the end effector, determine a grasping separation parameter of the end effector, determine, based on the determined grasping separation parameter, a prediction of success or failure in configuring the end effector for firing a staple through the material, and based on the determined grasping separation parameter, output an indicator of whether it is safe to proceed with stapling of the material grasped by the end effector.

A cart for supporting one or more instruments during a computer-assisted remote procedure can comprise a base; a steering interface having a portion configured to be grasped by a user; a sensor mechanism configured to detect a force applied to the steering interface by a user; and a switch operable between an engaged position and a disengaged position. The cart may further include a drive system comprising a control module operably coupled to receive an input from the sensor mechanism in response to the force applied to the steering interface and, on the condition that the switch is in the engaged position, to output a movement command based on the received input from the sensor mechanism. A driven wheel mounted to the base of the cart may be configured to impart motion to the cart in response to the movement command.

Surgical patient side cart with drive system and method of moving a patient side cart

Systems and methods for cutting element indication include an end effector having a jaw for clamping a material and a cutting element within the end effector and a processor. The cutting element is moveable relative to the end effector. The cutting element is driven by a drive element and a mechanism coupling the drive element to the cutting element. The processor is configured to determine a position of the cutting element relative to the end effector via a displacement of the drive element and a displacement of the mechanism and display, on a user interface, an indicator of the position of the cutting element relative to the end effector.

System for cutting element position indication

A system may comprise an image capture device to capture an image of a work site. The system may also comprise a processor to determine whether a tool disposed at the work site is energized and determine a first area of the captured image of the work site, including or adjacent to an image of a portion of the tool in the captured image. The processor may also determine a second area of the captured image including a remainder of the captured image that does not include the first area. Conditioned upon determining that the tool is energized, at least one of the first area and the second area of the captured image of the work site may be processed to indicate that the tool in the first area is being energized. The image of the work site with the first area and the second area may be displayed.

Providing information of tools by filtering image areas adjacent to or on displayed images of the tools

Techniques for active and semi-active damping include a system including a processor and a linkage having a first link, a second link, and a damper coupling the second link to the first link. The processor is configured to receive a movement command for moving the linkage; determine one or more first vibrations expected to occur in the linkage as a result of performing the movement command; determine a movement profile for moving the linkage to reduce the one or more first vibrations; and drive, using a drive component, the linkage to move according to the movement profile.

Active and semi-active damping

A medical robotic system includes a viewer, a gaze tracker, and a processor programmed to: draw an area or volume defining shape overlaid on an image based on the tracked gaze point after the user has gazed on the tracked gaze point for a programmed period of time; in response to receiving a user-selected action command, assign a fixed virtual constraint to the area or volume defining shape and constrain movement of a robotic tool; map points of the robotic tool in a tool reference frame to a viewer reference frame; determine a closest object to the tracked gaze point is the robotic tool based at least in part on the mapped points; display an object including text identifying the robotic tool, overlaid on the image, proximate to the robotic tool based on determining the robotic tool is the closest object; and perform an action indicated by the object.

A cart for supporting one or more instruments for a computer-assisted, remote procedure can include a base and a support structure extending from the base and adjustable to different configurations, the support structure being configured to support one or more instruments to perform a remote procedure. The cart can further include a steering interface configured to be grasped by a user and a sensor mechanism configured to detect a force applied to the steering interface. The cart also can include a drive system comprising a control module operably coupled to receive an input from the sensor mechanism in response to the force applied to the steering interface and information about a configuration of the support structure, the control module operably coupled to output a movement command based on the received input from the sensor mechanism and the information about the configuration of the support structure. A driven wheel may be mounted to the base and configured to impart wheeled motion to the cart in response to the movement command.

Growing community of inventors

Los Altos, CA, United States of America

David W Robinson