Obvius Robotics, Inc.

Baylor College of Medicine

James Patrick Herlihy

William E Cohn

Kenneth Wayne Rennicks

Maureen L Mulvihill

Roger B Bagwell

Kevin A Snook

Ryan S Clement

Casey A Scruggs

Russell Seiber

An image-guided robotic system for advancing a penetrating member into a body lumen located beneath a skin surface of a patient, the image-guided robotic system comprising: a detector for obtaining data representative of a location of the body lumen beneath the skin surface of the patient; a robotic arm comprising: a penetrating member; a linear actuator for linearly advancing the penetrating member into the body lumen; a vibrational actuator for vibrating the penetrating member at a selected frequency; a processor in communication with the detector, the linear actuator and the vibrational actuator, the processor being configured to: (i) receive the data representative of the location of the body lumen from the detector; (ii) calculate the distance to a preselected target point within the body lumen; (iii) transmit linear advancement instructions to the linear actuator to linearly advance the penetrating member through the skin surface, through tissue between the skin surface and the body lumen and into the preselected target point within the body lumen, wherein the linear advancement instructions comprise the speed and distance required for the linear actuator to advance the penetrating member through the skin surface, through tissue between the skin surface and the body lumen and into the body lumen at the preselected target point within the body lumen; (iv) transmit vibrational instructions to the vibrational actuator to vibrate the penetrating member; and (v) automatically modify at least one of the linear advancement instructions and the vibrational instructions in order to account for resistance encountered by the penetrating member during advancement of the penetrating member through the skin surface, through the tissue between the skin surface and the body lumen and into the preselected target point within the body lumen, wherein at least one of the linear advancement instructions and the vibrational instructions is modified to mitigate deformation of the body lumen as the penetrating member advances through the skin surface, through tissue between the skin surface and the body lumen and into the preselected target point within the body lumen.

Image-guided robotic arm for inserting a penetrating member into a body lumen

An automatic insertion device and method of using the same is provided. A vibrator and an extender are connected to a penetrating member and are both in electrical communication with a controller. A detector identifies a subcutaneous target for insertion and the insertion angle, distance and trajectory for the penetrating member are calculated. The vibrator provides vibrations to the penetrating member and the extender advances the penetrating member for insertion. The vibrator and extender are in electrical communication with one another during the insertion process and adjustments to the insertion speed are made based on feedback of vibrational load encountered by the vibrator during insertion, and adjustments to the vibrations are made based on feedback of insertion load encountered by the extender during insertion. Iterative samples are taken to constantly adjust the operation of one motor based on the operations and feedback from the other motor.

Device and method for automated insertion of penetrating member

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Houston, TX, United States of America

James Patrick Herlihy