Surgical Instrument With Commonly Actuated Robotic and Manual Features

• US 20130046318A1
• Filed: 04/13/2012
• Published: 02/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Incorporated (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Tsuji, Craig, Radgowski, Todd J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,098,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00477 Coupling A61B2017/0046 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2218/007 Aspiration
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots

Abstract

An instrument including an end effector at a distal end; an actuator mechanism at a proximal end, the actuator mechanism including a first valve, a robotic control coupled to the first valve, and a manual control coupled to the first valve is provided. The instrument may further include a transport shaft between the actuator mechanism and the end effector, the transport shaft including a cavity, coupled to the first valve, facilitating material transport along the transport shaft, the first valve having an actuating axis perpendicular to a rotational axis of the robotic control. A method for using an instrument as above is also provided.

Claims

1. An instrument comprising:

an end effector at a distal end;

an actuator mechanism at a proximal end, the actuator mechanism including a first valve,

a robotic control coupled to the first valve and a manual control coupled to the first valve; and

a transport shaft between the actuator mechanism and the end effector, the transport shaft including a cavity, coupled to the first valve, that facilitates material transport along the transport shaft, the first valve having an actuating axis perpendicular to a rotational axis of the robotic control.

2. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the actuating axis of the first valve comprises a linear plunger mechanism.

3. The instrument of claim 1 further comprising a flexible wrist attached between the transport shaft and the end effector.

4. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the actuator mechanism comprises a plurality of movable shafts coupled to receive an external force through a movable disk coupled to the robotic control.

5. The instrument of claim 4 wherein the first valve is coupled to one of the movable shafts in the actuator mechanism.

6. The instrument of claim 5 wherein the robotic control comprises a robotic actuation piece having a rack gear coupled to the movable shaft, wherein the rack gear translates in a first direction.

7. The instrument of claim 6 wherein the manual control includes a push button that translates in the first direction.

8. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the first valve is a piston-type valve.

9. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the first valve comprises a coil spring that holds the first valve in a default closed position.

10. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the first valve comprises a coil spring that holds the first valve in a default open position.

11. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the actuator further comprises:

a second valve coupled to the cavity and to a second movable shaft in the actuator mechanism.

12. The instrument of claim 11 wherein the cavity comprises:

a first aperture coupled to a first valve channel, and a second aperture coupled to a second valve channel;

wherein

the first valve channel is coupled to an irrigation source and the second valve channel is coupled to a suction source.

13. The instrument of claim 12 wherein the first aperture and the second aperture are placed at a distance from one another along a longitudinal axis of the transport shaft.

14. The instrument of claim 12 wherein the cavity further comprises a third aperture coupled to an auxiliary channel, the third aperture and the auxiliary channel being collinear with a longitudinal axis of the transport shaft.

15. The instrument of claim 12 wherein each of the first valve and the second valve have an actuating axis perpendicular to a rotational axis of the robotic control.

16. The instrument of claim 12 wherein the first valve channel and the second valve channel form a plane parallel to the rotational axis of the robotic control.

17. The instrument of claim 12 wherein the second valve has a button and is coupled to a movable disk coupled to the robotic control.

18. A method for using an instrument with actuated features, the method comprising:

actuating a first valve in a proximal end of the instrument to access a cavity included in a transport shaft of the instrument;

wherein actuating the first valve includes;

actuating an actuator mechanism that includes a robotic control coupled to the first valve and a manual control coupled to the first valve in response to activation of the robotic control or the manual control in a direction perpendicular to a rotational axis of the robotic control.

19. The method of claim 18, further including moving an end effector of the instrument in the distal end using a telerobotic actuator.

20. The method of claim 19, further including moving an end effector of the instrument in the distal end manually.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

actuating a second valve in the proximal end of the instrument to access a cavity included in a transport shaft of the instrument;

wherein actuating a second valve includes;

actuating an actuator mechanism that includes a robotic control coupled to the second valve and a manual control coupled to the second valve in response to activation of the robotic control or the manual control in a direction perpendicular to a rotational axis of the robotic control.

22. A method of using an instrument comprising:

coupling a material source to a cavity in the instrument;

coupling a suction source to the cavity in the instrument;

actuating a first valve coupled to the cavity to access the material source using an actuator mechanism including a robotic control coupled to the first valve and a manual control coupled to the first valve; and

actuating a second valve coupled to the cavity to access the suction source using an actuator mechanism including a robotic control coupled to the second valve and a manual control coupled to the second valve.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

transporting a material along a transport shaft of the instrument and an end effector at a distal end of the instrument; and

directing the material transport to a point of interest by moving the end effector.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein moving the end effector is performed manually.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein moving the end effector is performed telerobotically.