The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 25, 2006
Filed:
Jan. 29, 2002
Simon James Harris, London, GB;
Brian Lawrence Davies, London, GB;
Matjaz Jakopec, London, GB;
The Acrobot Company Limited, London, GB;
Abstract
An active-constraint robot (), particularly for surgical use, is controlled by means of a series of motorized joints to provide a surgeon with real-time tactile feedback of an operation in progress. The robot system holds, in memory, a series of constraint surfaces beyond which it would be dangerous for the surgeon to go, and a resistive force is applied to the cutting tool () as the surgeon approaches any such surface. To improve the overall quality of feedback experienced by the surgeon, the resistive force applied to the cutting tool () depends upon the point of intersection (I) between the force factor applied by the surgeon and the surface. Further improvements are achieved by adjusting the tangential resistive force, when the tool is adjacent to the surface, in dependence upon the surrounding shape of the surface.