Articulate and swapable endoscope for a surgical robot

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an articulate minimally invasive surgical endoscope with a flexible wrist having at least one degree of freedom. When used with a surgical robot having a plurality of robot arms, the endoscope can be used with any of the plurality of arms thereby allowing the use a universal arm design. The endoscope in accordance to the present invention is made more intuitive a to a user by attaching a reference frame used for controlling the at least one degree of freedom motion to the flexible wrist for wrist motion associated with the at least one degree of freedom. The endoscope in accordance to the present invention attenuates undesirable motion at its back / proximal end by acquiring the image of the object in association with the at least one degree of freedom based on a reference frame rotating around a point of rotation located proximal to the flexible wrist.

Description

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of patent application with Ser. No. 11 / 071,480 filed Mar. 3, 2005 which is a continuation-in-part of patent application with Ser. No. 10 / 726,795 filed Dec. 2, 2003 which claims priority from provisional application No. 60 / 431,636 filed on Dec. 6, 2002. This application is also a continuation-in-part of patent application with Ser. No. 10 / 980,119 filed Nov. 1, 2004 which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,974, issued on Nov. 16, 2004 which claims priority from provisional application No. 60 / 301,967 filed on Jun. 29, 2001 and provisional application No. 60 / 327,702, filed on Oct. 5, 2001. This application is related to the following patents and patent applications, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference: [0002] U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,235, entitled “Platform Link Wrist Mechanism”, issued on Mar. 2, 2004; [0003] U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,896, entitled “Robotic Apparatus”, issued on Se...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a minimally invasive articulate surgical endoscope system and method that allows for simplification of future surgical robot architectures, provides more flexible port placement, provides a greater area of visibility, provide multiple visual perspectives without added operational and logistic complexity or safety concerns, and provides the most desirable view of hidden body tissues. The endoscope has an elongate shaft, a flexible wrist, an endoscopic camera lens, and a plurality of actuation links that provide at least one degree of freedom motion to the wrist. The reference frame for controlling the motion is attached to the flexible wrist to minimize undesirable motion at the proximal end of the endoscope. The endoscope can be easily swapped between the arms of the surgical robotic system.

Problems solved by technology

Such undesirable motion is further attenuated when the reference frame used for controlling the at least one degree of freedom is attached to the flexible wrist.

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