Articulate and swappable endoscope for a surgical robot

• US 9,730,572 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2015
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Hasser, Christopher J., Cooper, Thomas G., Swarup, Nitish, Anderson, S. Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): NEAL, TIMOTHY JAY
• Application Number:
  US14/663,854
• Publication Number:
  US 20150313452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00142 with means for preventing contamination, e.g. by using a sanitary sheath
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/00149 using articulated arms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0055 Constructional details of insertion parts, e.g. vertebral elements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/0058 using shape-memory elements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/008 Articulations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/018 for receiving instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/05 characterised by the image sensor, e.g. camera, being in the distal end portion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00243 cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/003 Steerable
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00323 Cables or rods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/301 for introducing or steering flexible instruments inserted into the body, e.g. catheters or endoscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/305 Details of wrist mechanisms at distal ends of robotic arms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/306 Wrists with multiple vertebrae
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/35 for telesurgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/37 Master-slave robots A61B34/35 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/71 Manipulators operated by drive cable mechanisms

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.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an input device movable in at least one degree of freedom by an operator;

at least one slave movable in at least one degree of freedom in response to movement of the input device, the at least one slave comprising an articulate endoscope having a flexible wrist, said endoscope further comprising a camera configured to acquire an image, the camera coupled to the distal end of the flexible wrist;

a display configured to show the acquired image; and

a processor coupling the input device to the at least one slave, the processor programmed to map the at least one degree of freedom of the input device to the at least one degree of movement of the at least one slave according to a transformation selectable from either a world-reference frame or a camera-reference frame.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the acquired image is based on a reference frame rotating around a point of rotation located proximal to the flexible wrist.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the image is an orbital view.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of slave arm assemblies, wherein a standard design is used for each of the plurality of slave arm assemblies such that the endoscope may be releasably swapped among the plurality of slave arm assemblies.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the input device is further used to control at least one function of the camera.

6. The system of claim 5, the at least one function comprising focus of the camera.

7. The system of claim 5, the at least one function comprising aperture of a lens of the camera.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein a master alignment compensation is carried out continuously and incrementally during a movement of the camera to maintain master-slave intuitiveness between the input device and the camera.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one degree of freedom of the slave is position or velocity controlled.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one degree of freedom comprises movement in yaw or pitch.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein a world-reference frame is selected if the flexible wrist is moved by the input device in a first degree of freedom, and wherein a camera-reference frame is selected if the flexible wrist is moved by the input device in a second degree of freedom.

12. The system of claim 11, the at least one slave further comprising a manipulator arm coupled to an end effector, the world-reference frame and camera-reference frame each defining a relationship between movement of the input device and movement of the end effector, wherein the relationships defined by the world-reference and camera-reference frames are distinct from each other.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein a world-reference frame is selected if the flexible wrist is moved in pitch or yaw, and wherein a camera-reference frame is selected if the flexible wrist is moved in a degree of freedom other than pitch or yaw.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the image acquired by the camera is based on a reference frame rotating around an assumed center of a surgical site.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the image acquired by the camera is based on a reference frame rotating around an entry point of the slave into a surgical site.

16. The system of claim 1, the at least one degree of freedom of the input device comprising a left and right movement of the input device, the at least one degree of freedom of the at least one slave comprising a left and right movement and an up and down movement.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the world-reference frame is defined as being level with a gaze of the operator, and the camera-reference frame is defined as being attached to the camera.