A mechanism for determining the absolute position of a surgical instrument and a surgical robot

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of mechanism and surgical robot for judging the absolute position of surgical instrument. Among them, surgical robot includes instrument driver and sterile adapter. Instrument driver includes driver transmission connecting piece, sterile adapter includes adapter transmission connecting piece, driver transmission connecting piece is meshed with adapter transmission connecting piece via tooth structure. Tissue instrument includes instrument rear end transmission connecting piece, magnetic element is arranged on instrument rear end transmission connecting piece, and instrument rear end transmission connecting piece is connected to adapter transmission connecting piece. Inductive element is also provided in instrument driver to sense the magnetic field of magnetic element. According to the mechanism for judging the absolute position of surgical instrument of the application, instrument driver and sterile adapter can be docked in any direction, and the absolute position of surgical instrument is obtained by using magnetic field sensing. The steps are simple, and the response speed is fast.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of medical devices, in particular to a mechanism for determining absolute position of surgical instruments and a surgical robot. BACKGROUND

[0002] Surgical robots can help doctors achieve precise positioning of surgery, have the advantages of reducing patient wounds and shortening postoperative recovery time, etc. And it has a stable operation platform, which can solve the doctor's tremor and other situations, so it has a large number of applications in clinical surgery.

[0003] The surgical robot on the patient side performs surgical operations through surgical tools with end execution mechanisms. In order to meet the use requirements of different surgical instruments in surgery, the surgical instrument and the instrument driver are usually designed to be detachable for replacing different surgical instruments during surgery. At the same time, the surgical instrument is usually sterilizable independently.

[0004] The instrument driver end is usually designed to be non-sterilizable, in order to ensure the sterility during the operation, a sterile adapter needs to be added between the instrument driver and the surgical instrument during the operation, which is used to isolate the non-sterilizable instrument driver end and the sterilizable surgical instrument end during the operation.

[0005] At present, the transmission connection between the instrument driver and the sterile adapter is mostly in the form of single-point docking. It needs a single protruding part on the instrument driver connector to rotate to the same direction as a single groove part on the sterile adapter connector, and then they are one-to-one corresponding. This docking method has more actions when operating, and because of this connection method, the absolute position of the surgical instrument also needs to be found before alignment, which is complicated to operate, has low assembly reliability, and the determination of the absolute position is not timely and accurate.

[0006] Therefore, a mechanism for determining the absolute position of surgical instruments and a surgical robot are needed to at least partially solve the above problems. SUMMARY

[0007] A series of simplified concepts are introduced in the summary section, which will be further described in detail in the specific embodiments section. The summary section of the present application does not mean to attempt to limit the key features and necessary technical features of the claimed technical solutions, nor to determine the protection scope of the claimed technical solutions.

[0008] To at least partially solve the above problems, the first aspect of the present application provides a mechanism for determining the absolute position of surgical instruments, which is used in a surgical robot, the surgical robot comprising an instrument driver and a sterile adapter,

[0009] The instrument driver comprises a driver transmission connection, the sterile adapter comprises an adapter transmission connection, the driver transmission connection and the adapter transmission connection are connected via a toothed structure;

[0010] The surgical instrument comprises an instrument rear end transmission connection, a magnetic element is arranged on the instrument rear end transmission connection, and the instrument rear end transmission connection is connected to the adapter transmission connection.

[0011] The instrument driver is further provided with an induction element to sense the magnetic field of the magnetic element.

[0012] The mechanism for judging the absolute position of the surgical instrument according to the application can dock the instrument driver and the sterile adapter in any direction, and the absolute position of the surgical instrument is obtained by using magnetic field sensing, which is simple and fast in response.

[0013] Further, the instrument driver further comprises a first magnetic passage structure, which is located in the middle of the driver transmission connection and penetrates the driver transmission connection.

[0014] Further, the sterile adapter further comprises a second magnetic passage structure, which is located in the middle of the adapter transmission connection and penetrates the adapter transmission connection.

[0015] Further, the instrument driver further comprises:

[0016] an output shaft connected to the driver transmission connection;

[0017] a third magnetic passage structure arranged on the upper part of the output shaft, so that the output shaft is connected to the driver transmission connection via the third magnetic passage structure, and / or the third magnetic passage structure is configured as an integral part with the output shaft.

[0018] Further, the induction element is arranged close to the output shaft.

[0019] Further, the induction element is arranged close to the driver transmission connection.

[0020] Further, the magnetic element is arranged at the central axis of the instrument rear end transmission connection.

[0021] Further, the magnetic element is arranged away from the central axis of the instrument rear end transmission connection.

[0022] Further, the radial cross-sectional dimension of the magnetic element is smaller than the radial cross-sectional dimension of the instrument rear end transmission connection.

[0023] The second aspect of the present application provides a surgical robot including the mechanism for judging the absolute position of a surgical instrument according to the first aspect.

[0024] The surgical robot according to the present application can achieve similar technical effects to the mechanism for judging the absolute position of a surgical instrument according to the first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0025] The following drawings for the present application are hereby incorporated as part of the present application for the purpose of understanding the present application. The drawings of the embodiments of the present application and the description thereof are used to explain the principles of the present application.

[0026] In the drawings:

[0027] Figure 1 exploded view of a surgical robot according to a preferred embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 2 exploded view of a surgical robot according to another preferred embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 3 exploded view of a surgical robot according to a preferred embodiment of the present application, in which a surgical instrument is omitted;

[0030] Figure 4 exploded view of a surgical robot according to a preferred embodiment of the present application, in which a surgical instrument is omitted; Figure 3 exploded view of a surgical robot according to a preferred embodiment of the present application, in which a surgical instrument is omitted;

[0031] Figure 5 exploded view of a surgical robot according to a preferred embodiment of the present application, in which a surgical instrument is omitted;

[0032] Figure 6 exploded view of a surgical robot according to a preferred embodiment of the present application, in which a surgical instrument is omitted.

[0033] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0034] 100: surgical robot 110: instrument driver

[0035] 111: driver transmission link 112: first magnetic permeable structure

[0036] 113: first toothed structure 120: sterile adapter

[0037] 121: adapter transmission link 122: second magnetic permeable structure

[0038] 123: second toothed structure 130: surgical instrument

[0039] 131: instrument rear end transmission link 140: output shaft

[0040] 141: third magnetic structure 142: motor

[0041] 150: magnetic element 160: circuit board

[0042] 161: inductive element DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of the present application. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present application can be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the present application.

[0044] For a thorough understanding of the present application, reference should be made to the following detailed description. It should be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely exemplary of the present application and that the scope of the present application is not limited to these embodiments. The exemplary embodiments of the present application will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to make and use it. The embodiments of the present application can be implemented in a variety of ways.

[0045] It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing the exemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and / or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0046] Numerical ordinals such as "first" and "second" as used herein are merely identifiers and do not imply any particular order or ranking, etc. Also, the use of terms such as "first" and "second", by themselves, are not intended to imply the existence of any other "first" or "second" items, etc. Also, the use of the terms "first" and "second" are used to identify the respective components, but are not intended to imply any particular order or ranking.

[0047] It is to be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "right", "left", "inner", "outer", and the like as can be used herein are intended to be used to describe relative positioning for purposes of illustration and not limitations.

[0048] Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein Figures 1 to 6 Exemplary embodiments according to the present application will be described in more detail.

[0049] Reference will first be made to Figure 1 andFigure 2 The surgical robot 100 of the present application can include a surgical instrument 130, a sterile adapter 120 and an instrument driver 110. Wherein the sterile adapter 120 is connected to the instrument driver 110, and the surgical instrument 130 is connected to the sterile adapter 120. Specifically, the lower surface of the sterile adapter 120 is connected to the upper surface of the instrument driver 110. The front end of the surgical instrument 130 is configured as a surgical tool (not shown) such as forceps, scissors, clamps, etc. The rear end of the surgical instrument 130 is connected to the upper surface of the sterile adapter 120. The instrument driver 110 provides driving force to the instrument actuator (not shown) in the middle of the rear end of the surgical instrument 130 through the sterile adapter 120, and then through the traction assembly (such as steel wire rope, etc.) in the sleeve (not shown) to make the above-mentioned surgical tool complete the actions of pitching, deflecting and clamping.

[0050] The upper surface of the instrument driver 110 and the lower surface of the sterile adapter 120 can be fixed in a buckling manner, and the surface of the rear end of the surgical instrument 130 and the upper surface of the sterile adapter 120 can be fixed in a buckling manner. In use, the surface of the instrument driver 110, the lower surface of the sterile adapter 120, the upper surface of the sterile adapter 120, and the surface of the rear end of the surgical instrument 130 do not change the relative positional relationship.

[0051] The instrument driver 110 includes a driver transmission connecting piece 111, the sterile adapter 120 includes an adapter transmission connecting piece 121, and the surgical instrument 130 includes an instrument rear end transmission connecting piece 131. The driver transmission connecting piece 111, the adapter transmission connecting piece 121 and the instrument rear end transmission connecting piece 131 are respectively connected and fixed in a specific manner. So that in use, the instrument driver 110 drives the driver transmission connecting piece 111 to rotate, and transmits the driving force (or torque) to the instrument rear end transmission connecting piece 131 through the adapter transmission connecting piece 121, thereby realizing the control of the surgical tool.

[0052] Exemplarily, the driver transmission connecting piece 111 and the adapter transmission connecting piece 121 are connected by meshing via a toothed structure. Specifically, referring to Figure 3 and Figure 4The driver transmission connecting member 111 has a first tooth structure 113, and the adapter transmission connecting member 121 has a second tooth structure 123. When the driver transmission connecting member 111 is docked with the adapter transmission connecting member 121, the first tooth structure 113 and the second tooth structure 123 form a meshing. In other words, a plurality of first teeth of the first tooth structure 113 and a plurality of second teeth of the second tooth structure 123 mesh with each other. Exemplarily, the plurality of first teeth of the first tooth structure 113 are evenly arranged along the top of the driver transmission connecting member 111. Specifically, the top of the driver transmission connecting member 111 has a protrusion, and the plurality of first teeth are evenly arranged around the protrusion. The first teeth can have a guide surface and an engagement surface arranged on the side thereof, and a matching surface arranged on the outer periphery thereof. The two symmetrical guide surfaces form a small-area tooth peak, and the engagement surface is adjacent to the guide surface and is configured as a cylindrical surface.

[0053] The plurality of second teeth of the second tooth structure 123 are arranged on the inner side of the periphery of the bottom of the adapter transmission connecting member 121, and are also evenly arranged along the periphery. Specifically, the bottom of the adapter transmission connecting member 121 has a recess, and the plurality of second teeth are arranged on the inner side wall of the opening of the recess. The second teeth can also have a guide surface and an engagement surface arranged on the side thereof, and a matching surface arranged on the inner periphery thereof, which has a similar structure to the first teeth and will not be described here.

[0054] When the adapter transmission connecting member 121 is docked with the driver transmission connecting member 111, the small-area tooth peaks of the first teeth and the second teeth can be staggered at any position, and the guide surfaces of the first teeth and the second teeth are matched to guide, so that the first teeth can enter the tooth valleys of the second tooth structure 123, and the second teeth can enter the tooth valleys of the first tooth structure 113, thereby the engagement surface of the first teeth and the cylindrical surface of the second teeth form a meshing. In addition, the matching surface on the outer periphery of the first teeth can form a matching guide with the inner side wall surface (connecting surface between the second teeth) of the recess of the adapter transmission connecting member 121, and the matching surface on the inner periphery of the second teeth can form a matching guide with the outer side wall surface (connecting surface between the first teeth) of the protrusion of the driver transmission connecting member 111, so that the adapter transmission connecting member 121 and the driver transmission connecting member 111 can be more easily docked.

[0055] Similarly, the instrument rear end transmission connecting member 131 at the rear end of the surgical instrument 130 and the adapter transmission connecting member 121 of the sterile adapter 120 can also be connected in a meshing manner of tooth structure, which will not be described here.

[0056] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 and Figure 6A magnetic element 150, which can be a permanent magnet or an electromagnet, is provided on the instrument's rear drive connector 131. A sensing element 161 is also provided within the instrument driver 110, located below the magnetic element 150, to sense the magnetic field of the magnetic element 150. Thus, the sensing element 161 can determine the absolute position of the surgical instrument 130 based on changes in the magnetic field.

[0057] Specifically, the instrument driver 110 contains a circuit board 160, and a sensing element 161 is disposed on the circuit board 160, preferably configured as an encoder disposed on the circuit board 160. In addition, a computing module (not shown) may be disposed on the circuit board 160, which is electrically connected to the sensing element 161 to calculate the absolute position of the surgical instrument 130 based on the data sensed by the sensing element 161.

[0058] For example, the sensing element 161 can sense the magnetic field strength or magnetic field direction of the magnetic element 150. When the instrument rear transmission connector rotates, the magnetic field strength or direction angle sensed by the sensing element 161 changes, and the calculation module can calculate the absolute position of the surgical instrument 130 through the pre-stored data correspondence.

[0059] The magnetic element 150 can be disposed in the middle of the rear transmission connector 131 of the instrument, or in other words, it is disposed at the central axis of the rear transmission connector 131 of the instrument. Figure 1 (As shown). Alternatively, the magnetic element 150 can also be disposed to the side of the central axis of the rear transmission connector 131 of the instrument, that is, the magnetic element 150 is eccentrically disposed relative to the central axis of the rear transmission connector 131 of the instrument. Figure 2 (As shown).

[0060] The mechanism for determining the absolute position of surgical instruments according to the present invention allows the instrument driver 110 and the sterile adapter 120 to be docked in any direction, and the absolute position of the surgical instrument 130 is obtained by means of sensing magnetic fields. The steps are simple and the response speed is fast.

[0061] However, since there is a certain distance between the sensing element 161 and the magnetic element 150, and the magnetic field of the magnetic element 150 needs to maintain a suitable magnetic field strength, the magnetic element 150 is designed to be small in size, with its radial cross-sectional dimension smaller than that of the rear transmission connector 131 of the instrument, in order to maintain a suitable magnetic field strength. Furthermore, certain means are needed to make the magnetic field easier for the sensing element 161 to detect.

[0062] Therefore, refer to Figure 3Preferably, the first magnetic flux structure 112 is arranged in the middle of the driver transmission connecting member 111 and penetrates the middle of the driver transmission connecting member. The first magnetic flux structure 112 is preferably made of a material capable of conducting magnetic field. In this way, the magnetic field of the magnetic element 150 can be conducted by the first magnetic flux structure 112 and then sensed by the inductive element 161.

[0063] In order to further improve the sensitivity of the inductive element 161, a second magnetic flux structure 122 can be arranged on the adapter transmission connecting member 121. Similar to the first magnetic flux structure 112, the second magnetic flux structure 122 is preferably made of a material capable of conducting magnetic field. It is arranged in the middle of the adapter transmission connecting member and penetrates the middle of the adapter transmission connecting member. When the adapter transmission connecting member 121 is connected to the driver transmission connecting member 111 and the instrument rear-end transmission connecting member 131 respectively, the magnetic element 150, the first magnetic flux structure 112 and the second magnetic flux structure 122 on the instrument rear-end transmission connecting member 131 are in contact in sequence to form a new magnetic whole, so that the inductive element 161 can sense the direction or angle of the magnetic field of the magnetic element 150.

[0064] In an embodiment not shown, the sterile adapter 120 can be made thinner, that is, the thickness of the sterile adapter 120 can be reduced to reduce its blocking effect on the magnetic field. In this case, the second magnetic flux structure 122 described above can not be arranged.

[0065] In the following, Figure 5 and Figure 6 The instrument driver 110 has a motor 142 therein, which is connected to the driver transmission connecting member 111 via an output shaft 140 to transmit torque. Among them, Figure 5 corresponding to the embodiment in which the magnetic element 150 is arranged at the central axis of the instrument rear-end transmission connecting member 131, Figure 6 corresponding to the embodiment in which the magnetic element 150 is arranged eccentrically.

[0066] In the embodiment shown in Figure 5 In order to facilitate the spatial layout in the instrument driver 110, the circuit board 160 is arranged far away from the driver transmission connecting member 111, or in other words, the circuit board 160 is arranged close to the motor 142. This further increases the distance between the inductive element 161 and the magnetic element 150. Therefore, a third magnetic flux structure 141 is preferably arranged in the instrument driver 110 to further strengthen the conduction of the magnetic field and improve the sensitivity of the inductive element 161. Specifically, the third magnetic flux structure 141 can be arranged above the output shaft 140, so that the motor 142 is connected to the instrument driver 110 via the output shaft 140 and the third magnetic flux structure 141 in sequence. The third magnetic flux structure 141 is preferably connected to the second magnetic flux structure 122.

[0067] In an alternative embodiment, the third magnetic flux passing structure 141 and the output shaft 140 can be made as one piece. Alternatively, the output shaft 140 can be made of a material capable of conducting magnetic field, so that the output shaft 140 itself becomes the third magnetic flux passing structure 141.

[0068] Reference will now be made to the following drawings Figure 6 When the magnetic element 150 is eccentrically arranged, the position of the circuit board 160 can be raised, so that the inductive element 161 is arranged close to the driver transmission connecting member 111, so as to minimize the distance between the inductive element 161 and the magnetic element 150, so that the inductive element 161 can sense the strength of the magnetic field of the magnetic element 150 as much as possible. In this case, the third magnetic flux passing structure 141 can not be arranged.

[0069] Unless otherwise defined, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this application. The features described in one embodiment can be applied to another embodiment, unless the features are not applicable or are otherwise stated otherwise.

[0070] The application has been described through the above embodiments, but it should be understood that the above embodiments are only for the purpose of example and illustration, and are not intended to limit the application to the scope of the described embodiments. Furthermore, those skilled in the art can understand that the application is not limited to the above embodiments, and more variants and modifications can be made according to the teachings of the application, which all fall within the scope of the application claimed. The scope of protection of the application is defined by the attached claims and their equivalent scope.

Claims

1. A surgical robot, the surgical robot comprising an instrument actuator, a sterile adapter, and surgical instruments, characterized in that: The instrument driver includes a driver transmission connector; The sterile adapter includes an adapter drive connector. The driver drive connector and the adapter drive connector are connected via a toothed structure to allow the instrument driver and the sterile adapter to dock in any direction. The toothed structure includes a first toothed structure on the driver drive connector and a second toothed structure on the adapter drive connector. The first toothed structure includes a plurality of first teeth. The top of the driver drive connector has a protrusion. The plurality of first teeth are evenly arranged circumferentially around the protrusion. The first teeth have a guide surface and a meshing surface on the side. Two symmetrically arranged guide surfaces form tooth peaks. The second toothed structure includes a plurality of second teeth. The bottom of the adapter drive connector has a recess. The plurality of second teeth are evenly arranged circumferentially around the bottom on the inner sidewall of the opening of the recess. The second teeth have a guide surface and a meshing surface on the side. Two symmetrically arranged guide surfaces form tooth peaks. The surgical instrument includes a rear-end drive connector, on which a magnetic element is disposed. The rear-end drive connector is connected to the adapter drive connector. The instrument driver further includes a sensing element to acquire magnetic field data from the magnetic element. A calculation module is used to determine the absolute position of the surgical instrument based on the magnetic field data acquired by the sensing element.

2. The surgical robot according to claim 1, characterized in that, The instrument driver further includes a first magnetic flux structure, which is located in the middle of the driver transmission connector and passes through the driver transmission connector.

3. The surgical robot according to claim 2, characterized in that, The sterile adapter further includes a second magnetic structure, which is located in the middle of the adapter drive connector and passes through the adapter drive connector.

4. The surgical robot according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The instrument driver also includes: An output shaft, which is connected to the driver drive connector; A third magnetic flux structure is disposed on the upper part of the output shaft so that the output shaft is connected to the driver drive connector via the third magnetic flux structure, and / or the third magnetic flux structure and the output shaft are constructed as an integral part.

5. The surgical robot according to claim 4, characterized in that, The sensing element is positioned close to the output shaft.

6. The surgical robot according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The sensing element is positioned close to the drive connection of the driver.

7. The surgical robot according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The magnetic element is located at the central axis of the rear transmission connector of the instrument.

8. The surgical robot according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The magnetic element is offset from the central axis of the rear transmission connector of the instrument.

9. The surgical robot according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The radial cross-sectional dimension of the magnetic element is smaller than the radial cross-sectional dimension of the rear transmission connector of the instrument.

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