Massachusetts Materials Technologies LLC

Cilag International Gmbh

Phillip A Soucy

Simon Claude Bellemare

Brendon M Willey

Steven D Palkovic

Michael J Tarkanian

Jeffrey S Swayze

Carol Wood Sutherland

Andrew John Ryan

Simon C Bellemare

Robotic surgical systems are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a robotic surgical system includes an electromechanical arm, a motor housing, a tool shaft, an end effector, and an articulation actuation system. The tool shaft includes a central body and a joint assembly having master and slave joints. The end effector is configured to move in response to movement of the slave joint. The articulation actuation system is configured to act directly on the master joint without directly acting on the slave joint to move the master joint in at least one plane. The master and slave joints are operably coupled to each other such that movement of the master joint causes parallel movement of the slave joint while maintaining a position of a longitudinal axis of the central body of the tool shaft to thereby effect articulation of the end effector. Surgical systems and methods are also provided.

Surgical systems and methods for robotic actuation of continuum joints

An apparatus for performing a contact mechanics test in a substrate includes a stylus having at least two contact elements. Each contact element has a contact profile, and the contact elements are disposed in the stylus to define a stretch passage therebetween. The stylus is configured to deform the substrate so as to cause the substrate to flow between the contact elements and induce tension in the substrate in order to generate and preserve micromodifications in the substrate. Methods of performing a contact mechanics test using the apparatus are also provided.

Measurement of material properties under local tensile stress through contact mechanics

An apparatus for performing a contact mechanics test on a substrate includes a stylus, a core configured to engage the stylus against the substrate, a stylus engagement mechanism configured to induce a contact load or a penetration depth to the stylus, a core engagement mechanism configured to maintain contact of the core and to move the core along the substrate surface, a frame configured to be fixed with respect to the apparatus or to be moved together with the core engagement mechanism as an assembly, a frame engagement mechanism configured to engage the frame with the substrate surface; and a substrate monitoring device configured to measure characteristics of substrate contact response and/or collect material machined from the substrate. Methods of performing a contact mechanics test are also provided.

Contact mechanic tests using stylus alignment to probe material properties

Growing community of inventors

Chelmsford, MA, United States of America

Phillip A Soucy