Neuroarm Surgical Ltd.

Microbotics Corporation

Paul Bradley McBeth

Garnette Roy Sutherland

Tim Fielding

Dennis Gregoris

Deon Francois Louw

Dennis John Gregoris

A robot system for use in surgical procedures has two movable arms, each arm having a six of degrees of freedom of movement and an end effector which can be rolled about its axis and an actuator which can slide along the axis for operating different tools adapted to be supported by the end effector. Each end effector including optical force sensors for detecting forces applied to the tool by engagement with the part of the patient. The robot is MRI compatible and can be configured to operate within a closed magnet bore. The arms are driven about vertical and horizontal axes by piezoelectric motors.

Microsurgical robot system

A robot system for use in surgical procedures has two movable arms each carried on a wheeled base with each arm having a six of degrees of freedom of movement and an end effector which can be rolled about its axis and an actuator which can slide along the axis for operating different tools adapted to be supported by the effector. Each end effector including optical force sensors for detecting forces applied to the tool by engagement with the part of the patient. A microscope is located at a position for viewing the part of the patient. The position of the tool tip can be digitized relative to fiducial markers visible in an MRI experiment. The workstation and control system has a pair of hand-controllers simultaneously manipulated by an operator to control movement of a respective one or both of the arms. The image from the microscope is displayed on a monitor in 2D and stereoscopically on a microscope viewer. A second MRI display shows an image of the part of the patient the real-time location of the tool. The robot is MRI compatible and can be configured to operate within a closed magnet bore. The arms are driven about vertical and horizontal axes by piezoelectric motors.

A surgical robot that includes at least one robotic arm having multiple joints and at least six degrees of freedom, the robotic arm also including: a magnetic resonance (MR) compatible structural material; multiple MR-compatible joint motors; and multiple MR-compatible joint encoders.

A method of operating a surgical system. The method includes obtaining a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan in which magnetic resonance (MR) visible targets are located; registering a robotic arm to the MRI scan using a digitizing tool, the robotic arm including: multiple joints and multiple degrees of freedom; an MR-compatible structural material; multiple MR-compatible joint motors; multiple MR-compatible joint encoders; and an end effector holding an MR-compatible surgical tool having a tool tip; and displaying a location of the tool tip relative to an image from the MRI scan.

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Calgary, Canada

Paul Bradley McBeth