Methods and devices for driving surgical devices

Abstract

A method of driving a surgical device is provided. The method may generate operation information of the surgical device based on an amount of change in a reference posture to a user input interaction for controlling the surgical device; determining a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the generated operational information; generating target state information of at least one drive assembly equipped in the surgical device based on whether the target posture exceeds a drive limit of the at least one drive assembly; and driving at least one driving component according to the target state information.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0035293 filed on March 13, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present invention relates to a method and a device for driving a surgical device. Background Art

[0004] In medicine, surgery refers to the process of removing, incising, or manipulating the skin, mucous membranes, or other tissues using medical instruments to treat a disease. In particular, laparotomy, which involves cutting the skin at the surgical site to treat internal organs, or to perform corrections or resections, can cause bleeding, side effects, patient pain, and scarring. Consequently, surgery performed through a defined incision in the skin and inserting only a laparoscope, surgical instruments, or a microsurgery microscope, or using robots, has attracted significant attention in recent years as an alternative.

[0005] Here, surgical robots are robots that can replace surgical procedures originally performed by surgeons. Compared to humans, these robots can perform precise and delicate movements and have the advantage of being able to perform remote surgery.

[0006] On the other hand, surgical robots generally consist of a master robot and a slave robot. When the surgeon operates a joystick (such as a handle) equipped on the master robot, a robotic arm coupled to the slave robot or a surgical device held by the robotic arm is operated to perform surgery.

[0007] However, when surgery is performed using a surgical robot remotely operating the surgical device rather than the surgeon actually operating the device, several issues may arise. For example, even if the surgeon operates the joystick on the master robot, the slave robot may be unable to perform the desired action due to instrument limitations. When such instrument limitations are reached, the control target for achieving the surgical robot's posture corresponding to the joystick operation is not calculated, and it takes longer than a predetermined amount of time until a determination that control is uncontrollable is made, resulting in interruptions in the surgical robot's actions. Furthermore, even when the robot is driven within the action limits, the robot's actions may differ from the user's intuitive intent.

[0008] The aforementioned background technology refers to the technical information possessed by the inventor in deriving the present invention, or the technical information mastered in the process of deriving the present invention, and is not necessarily the known technology disclosed to the general public before the application of the present invention. Summary of the Invention

[0009] An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for driving a surgical device. Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for executing the method in a computer.

[0010] The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the problems described above. Other problems and advantages of the present invention that are not described below will be understood and will become more apparent through the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, the problems to be solved and advantages of the present invention can be achieved by the methods and combinations thereof in the claims.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for driving a surgical device includes: generating operation information based on a change in a reference posture of a user input interaction portion for controlling the surgical device; determining a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; determining target state information of the drive component based on whether the target posture exceeds a drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device; and driving the drive component according to the target state information.

[0012] According to one aspect, the driving component may include a joint; the target state information may include a target joint angle; and the driving limit may include a joint limit angle.

[0013] According to one aspect, the reference posture of the user input interaction portion is configured to be updated to pre-operation posture information of the user input interaction portion before the user input interaction portion is operated for the first time.

[0014] According to one aspect, determining the target posture includes determining the target posture based on a correspondence between a predetermined movement of a user input interaction portion and a movement of a surgical device.

[0015] According to one aspect, the target state information is determined and can be configured to, in response to determining that the target posture exceeds a driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device, determine modified state information in which the driving result of the driving component is constrained to a range within the driving limit as the target state information.

[0016] According to one aspect, the modified state information is determined such that the more the degree to which the target posture exceeds the driving limit increases, the closer the driving result of the driving component approaches the driving limit.

[0017] According to one aspect, the driving step is configured to update a reference posture of the user input interaction portion using post-operation posture information of the user input interaction portion in response to determining that the target posture exceeds a driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device.

[0018] According to one aspect, determining the target state information includes: determining drive component difference information based on the degree of state change of the drive component required to change the surgical device to the target posture; determining modified state information that the driving result of the drive component is constrained to a range within the driving limit; and determining whether the target posture exceeds the driving limit on the drive component based on the drive component difference information and the modified state information.

[0019] According to one aspect, determining the drive component difference information includes: determining the current posture of the surgical device based on information about the current state of the drive component; determining posture difference information based on the difference between the target posture and the current posture; and converting the posture difference information into the drive component difference information.

[0020] According to one aspect, determining the modified state information includes: determining the modified state information based on the drive component difference information, the uplink drive limit value of the drive component, the downlink drive limit value of the drive component and a tangent function.

[0021] According to one aspect, determining whether the driving limit is exceeded includes determining whether the driving limit is exceeded based on whether a difference between the modified driving component difference information and the driving component difference information exceeds a predetermined first threshold.

[0022] According to one aspect, the modified drive assembly difference information is determined based on a difference between the modified state information and information about a current state of the drive assembly.

[0023] According to one aspect, determining the target state information further includes: in response to determining that the driving limit is exceeded, determining the modified state information as the target state information.

[0024] According to one aspect, determining the target state information also includes: in response to determining that the driving limit is not exceeded and determining that the driving component difference information is less than a second threshold, adding the information of the current state of the driving component to the value of the driving component difference information is determined as the target state information.

[0025] According to one aspect, determining the target state information is repeatedly performed until it is determined that the driving limit is exceeded or the driving component difference information is determined to be less than a second threshold.

[0026] As a technical device for achieving the technical problem, according to another embodiment of the present invention, a device for driving a surgical device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory; the at least one processor is configured to: generate operation information based on the change in the reference posture of the user input interaction part for controlling the surgical device; determine the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; determine the target state information of the drive component based on whether the target posture exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device; and drive the drive component according to the target state information.

[0027] As a technical system for achieving the technical problem, a surgical robot system according to another embodiment of the present invention includes: a user input interaction unit; a surgical device; and at least one processor; the at least one processor is configured to: generate operation information based on the change in the reference posture of the user input interaction unit for controlling the surgical device; determine the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; determine the target state information of the drive component based on whether the target posture exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device; and drive the drive component according to the target state information.

[0028] As a technical device for achieving the technical problem, a computer-readable storage medium according to another embodiment of the present invention contains instructions executable by a processor, and the instructions enable the processor to execute: generating operation information based on the change in the reference posture of the user input interaction part for controlling the surgical device; determining the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; determining the target state information of the drive component based on whether the target posture exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device; and driving the drive component according to the target state information.

[0029] In addition, other methods and systems for implementing the present invention and computer-readable recording media for storing and executing the above methods are also provided.

[0030] Other aspects, features, and advantages besides those described above will become more apparent from the following drawings, claims, and description of the invention.

[0031] According to the solution to the problem disclosed above, in the present disclosure, the movement is constrained within the driving limit of the surgical robot, and the driving mode of the surgical robot is changed according to whether it is constrained within the driving limit, thereby solving the problem of interruption of the surgical robot's movement; when the movement is constrained within the driving limit of the surgical robot, for example, the reference posture of the user input interaction part of the main robot is initialized to more accurately reflect the user's intuitive operation and use the surgical robot to perform surgery.

[0032] The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned contents, and other effects not mentioned will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of a system for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment;

[0034] Figure 2A is a structural diagram showing an example of a user terminal according to an embodiment;

[0035] Figure 2B is a structural diagram showing an example of a server according to an embodiment;

[0036] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram for illustrating another example of a surgical robot system for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment;

[0037] Figure 4 To express Figure 3 A block diagram of the internal structure of the surgical robot system;

[0038] Figure 5 To express Figure 3 An oblique view of a slave robot of a surgical robot system and an articulated surgical device mounted thereon;

[0039] Figure 6 is a perspective view showing a multi-joint surgical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 7 and Figure 8 yes Figure 6 A three-dimensional diagram of an end tool of a multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0041] Figures 9A to 9B yes Figure 6 A top view of a terminal tool of a multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0042] Figure 10 and Figure 11 yes Figure 6 A three-dimensional diagram of a driving portion of a multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0043] Figure 12 yes Figure 6 A top view of a driving portion of a multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0044] Figure 13 yes Figure 6 A rear view of a driving portion of a multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0045] Figure 14 yes Figure 6 A side view of a driving portion of a multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0046] Figure 15 yes Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the disassembly of the structure related to the first clamp in the structure of the pulley and guide wire of the multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0047] Figure 16 yes Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the disassembly of the structure related to the second clamp in the structure of the pulley and guide wire of the multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0048] 17A to 18C It shows Figure 6 A diagram illustrating the pitch motion of the multi-joint surgical instrument;

[0049] Figures 19A to 20B It shows Figure 6 A diagram illustrating the deflection motion of a multi-jointed surgical instrument;

[0050] Figure 21 is a schematic flow chart of a method for driving a surgical device according to one aspect;

[0051] Figure 22 To illustrate the driving process of the existing surgical device Figure 21 Flowchart of target state information determination steps;

[0052] Figure 23 exemplarily showing the control result when the driving limit is reached during the driving process of the existing surgical device;

[0053] Figure 24 represents a control standard mismatch problem in the case of restricting the driving range to within the driving limit of the surgical robot according to one aspect;

[0054] Figure 25 is a schematic flow chart of a method for driving a surgical device according to one disclosed embodiment;

[0055] Figure 26 Express Figure 25 The conceptual information processing process of the target state determination step;

[0056] Figure 27 Express Figure 25 The conceptual information processing of the reference posture initialization process when the driving limit is reached;

[0057] Figure 28 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 26 An exemplary detailed flow chart of target state information determination steps;

[0058] Figure 29 for Figure 28 An exemplary detailed flowchart of the steps for determining drive component difference information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] Below, various embodiments of the present disclosure are described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The various embodiments of the present disclosure may be modified in various ways and may have multiple embodiments. Specific embodiments are exemplarily shown in the accompanying drawings and described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to a specific factual manner, but must include all changes, equivalents and even substitutes that fall within the scope of the idea and technology of the present invention. However, this does not mean that the various embodiments of the present disclosure are limited to any specific embodiment, but should be understood to include all modifications and / or equivalents or substitutes included in the scope of the idea and technology of the various embodiments of the present disclosure. In the description of the drawings, similar components use similar figure marks.

[0060] In various embodiments of the present disclosure, expressions such as "include" or "may include" refer to the existence of the corresponding features, actions, or components disclosed (disclosure), and are not intended to limit the additional one or more features, actions, or components, etc. In addition, in various embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "include" or "have" are intended to specify the existence of the described features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof, and are not intended to preclude the possibility of the existence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

[0061] In various embodiments of the present disclosure, expressions such as "or" include any and all combinations of the terms listed together. For example, "A or B" may include A, may include B, and may also include A and B.

[0062] In various embodiments of the present disclosure, expressions such as "first," "second," "first," or "second" may modify various components of the various embodiments, but are not intended to limit these components. For example, the expressions do not limit the order and / or importance of these components. The expressions can be used to distinguish one component from another. For example, a first user device and a second user device are both user devices, but represent different user devices. For example, without departing from the scope of the various embodiments of the present disclosure, a first component may be named a second component, and similarly, a second component may be named a first component.

[0063] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, terms such as "module," "unit," and "part" refer to components that perform at least one function or action. These components may be implemented by hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software. In addition, multiple "modules," "units," and "parts" may be integrated into at least one module or chip and implemented by at least one processor, unless each needs to be implemented as separate specific hardware.

[0064] In various embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms used are only used to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the various embodiments of the present disclosure. Unless otherwise clearly stated in the context, singular expressions include plural meanings.

[0065] Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments of the present disclosure belong.

[0066] The same terms as those defined in commonly used dictionaries have the same meanings as in the context of the related art and, unless clearly defined in various embodiments of the present disclosure, should not be interpreted as ideal or overly formalistic meanings.

[0067] Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail using the accompanying drawings.

[0068] Laparoscopic surgery is performed by creating a hole in the patient's abdominal cavity, inserting a long, narrow tube through the hole, and then using surgical instruments connected to the end of the tube. These surgical instruments can be articulated instruments, for example.

[0069] In this case, manual surgical instruments require symmetrical movement of the instrument and the user's control unit relative to the abdominal orifice, requiring a considerable amount of practice to achieve mastery. Furthermore, since the surgical instruments cannot be visually inspected, an endoscopic camera is inserted into the abdominal cavity, and the instrument is operated while viewing the captured camera video.

[0070] The same is true when using a surgical robot system for laparoscopic surgery, but compared to manual surgical instruments, it offers the advantage of intuitive control. As will be described later in this disclosure, a surgical robot system according to one embodiment includes a master robot and a slave robot. The slave robot, also referred to as a surgical robot or surgical device, refers to the configuration that directly operates on a patient during surgery. The master robot, also referred to as a master device or user input interface, refers to the configuration that receives user input for controlling the slave robot.

[0071] Because the surgical robot system separates the part that mounts the articulated instrument to perform surgery (the surgical robot) from the part operated by the user (the main unit), it enables more intuitive operation than manual surgical instruments. Specifically, the system controls the movements by matching the user's movements with those on the laparoscope camera screen, allowing for intuitive operation of the surgical instrument.

[0072] Figure 21 FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a method for driving a surgical device according to one aspect. Figure 21 , the action process of the surgical robot system, that is, the process of operating the surgical robot equipped with surgical instruments through the main device, will be described in more detail.

[0073] First, if Figure 21 As shown, if the user initiates control of the surgical robot, the reference posture information of the master device is initialized (step 2110). As a non-limiting example, before the first operation of the user input interaction unit equipped in the master device, the reference posture of the user input interaction unit can be initialized to the current posture of the user input interaction unit. According to one aspect, the control of the surgical robot can be performed based on the degree of change of the user input interaction unit. Therefore, the reference posture of the user input interaction unit, which serves as a reference for determining the degree of change, is initialized before the user operation.

[0074] The user then operates the main device (e.g., the user input interface), which generates operation information based on the reference posture information. For example, the main device may generate operation information based on the amount of change in the reference posture of the user input interface (step 2120). The generated operation information may be transmitted to the surgical robot.

[0075] The surgical robot generates a target posture based on the received operation information (step 2130). For example, a target posture of a surgical device corresponding to the operation information can be determined. The surgical robot generates a target joint angle to create the target posture (step 2140). For example, the surgical robot can determine target state information of at least one drive component. Here, as a non-limiting example, the drive component can be a joint equipped on the surgical robot, and the target state information can be a target joint angle. If the target state information, such as the target joint angle, is successfully generated, the surgical robot performs driving at the target joint angle (step 2150).

[0076] As an exemplary drive component, the joint refers to an instrument structure that is actually equipped with a motor for rotation, and the joint movement of the surgical robot includes the movement of the robotic arm and the articulated instrument installed on the surgical robot. In addition, the process of generating the target joint angle of the surgical robot with the target posture of the surgical robot as the input value is defined as "inverse kinematics conversion". The inverse kinematics conversion is an algorithm determined by the target posture, the instrument structure of the robot and the angle limit of each joint. At least one of the various algorithms can be used for the inverse kinematics conversion. In the present disclosure, among the various algorithms for inverse kinematics conversion, the Newton-Raphson numerical inverse kinematics, which is widely known as the numerical analysis method, can be used as the basis for description, but it should be noted that this is only intended to provide convenience for explanation, and does not limit the technical ideas of the present invention.

[0077] The advantage of numerical analysis inverse kinematics conversion is that it can implement a general algorithm that is not restricted by the robot's mechanical characteristics. In other words, even if the robot's mechanical characteristics change, the algorithm itself does not need to be modified because it does not rely on the structure of the information used. However, because of this, even if the input cannot generate a target posture with a target joint angle due to the limitations of the robot's mechanical structure or joint angles, it is impossible to deterministically determine whether the target posture is achievable. Therefore, most numerical analysis inverse kinematics conversion algorithms determine that the inverse kinematics conversion has failed if the target joint posture is not output after a certain period of time after the calculation starts.

[0078] Figure 22 To illustrate the driving process of the existing surgical device Figure 21 Flowchart of the target state information determination steps. Figure 22As shown, when determining the target state information based on the existing numerical analysis inverse kinematics transformation, an attempt is made to determine the target state information within a predetermined time interval of a specific length (step 2141). For example, an attempt can be made to determine the target joint angle for achieving a target posture corresponding to the operation information of the user input interaction unit. If the target state information can be determined, the target state information for achieving the target posture can be determined (step 2143). However, if the target state information cannot be determined within the prescribed time interval, the target state information cannot be determined, and the determination is judged to have failed (step 2145) and the process ends.

[0079] Conversion failures in existing numerical analysis of inverse kinematics significantly hinder user operability during surgical robot operations. If a target posture input is unattainable by the surgical robot due to limitations in the instrument structure or joint angles, the robot will stop driving for a period of time, inevitably leading to interruptions in the surgical operation. In other words, although the user input interaction unit changes operational information, the corresponding target state information is not determined, resulting in interruptions in the surgical operation, such as the robot's driving posture remaining unchanged.

[0080] Furthermore, conversion failures themselves can severely hinder user operability. Figure 23 The control result 2310 of the surgical device when the driving limit is reached during the conventional surgical device driving process is exemplified.

[0081] The surgical robot's target posture changes due to changes in the posture information from the master device operated by the user, regardless of whether the inverse kinematics conversion failed. Therefore, when inverse kinematics conversion fails, the surgical robot maintains the target posture from the last successful inverse kinematics conversion, rather than the latest target posture. If a target posture that supports inverse kinematics conversion is subsequently received from the master device, the resulting posture discrepancy could cause the robot to move suddenly. Regardless of the intended operation, the user may perceive this as an uncomfortable sensation, as the robot moves suddenly and dramatically.

[0082] For example, Figure 23 As shown, a first operation 2311 performed by the user on the user input interaction unit can cause the corresponding operation of the surgical device to be displayed on the camera screen 2321. Here, if the posture or position to be driven by the surgical device according to the first operation falls within the inverse kinematics conversion failure posture area 2330, the surgical device will not be driven even if the first operation 2311 is performed, and will maintain the target posture from which the inverse kinematics conversion was successful.

[0083] Thereafter, when the user performs a second operation 2313 on the user input interaction unit, the corresponding operation of the surgical device can be displayed on the camera screen 2323. If, according to the first and second operations 2311 and 2313, the target state of the surgical device is set to a state capable of inverse kinematic conversion, rather than the inverse kinematic conversion failure posture area 2330, the surgical device can be rapidly driven from the inverse kinematic conversion success posture prior to the first operation 2311 to the posture 2333 according to the second operation 2313. Therefore, the user may intend to perform the movement from the first operation 2311 to the second operation 2313, but contrary to the user's intention, the user may experience an uncomfortable feeling, as the surgical device does not move at all during the first operation 2311, but undergoes a sudden, large movement in response to the second operation 2313.

[0084] In order to overcome these problems, for example, it is possible to consider not handling the inverse kinematics conversion as a failure, but rather completing the inverse kinematics conversion by satisfying the existing characteristics of the surgical device even if it is different from the input target posture. Here, the existing characteristics may include, for example, drive limitations such as the joint limit angles of the robot. If a specific joint angle exceeds the limit value during the inverse kinematics conversion process, the conversion can be performed while the joint angle is maintained at the limit value to output achievable joint information. When the joint angle exceeds the limit value during the conversion process, there is no need to retry the conversion itself from the beginning as in the usual numerical analysis inverse kinematics conversion process, but the conversion can be continued while the angle is maintained within the limit value.

[0085] However, other usability-hindering issues may arise when only inverse kinematics transformation methods with restrictions within these drive limits are applied.

[0086] Figure 24 This represents a control standard mismatch problem when the driving range is constrained within the driving limit of the surgical robot according to one aspect; for example, when the driving component is a joint, if the angle of a specific joint is constrained within the limit value, the posture of the surgical robot formed by the joint angle will be different from the target posture received from the master device. Figure 24As shown, a target pose 2420 input by the user and the master device relative to a specific axis 2410 in the coordinate system constrained by joint limits may exceed the joint limits, but may be controlled to a restricted pose 2430 within the joint limits. That is, although the user's operation via the user input interface of the master device is intended to drive the surgical robot to the target pose 2420, the joint limits of the joints operating along the specific axis 2410 prevent the joint limits from being exceeded. Therefore, the joints are controlled to move only to the modified pose 2430. However, if the target pose input by the user and the master device differs from the pose actually driven by the surgical robot or surgical device, the coordinate system including the rotational axis used as a reference for input direction information will also differ. That is, after completing the initial operation within the joint limits, if the user subsequently wishes to control the surgical robot via the user input interface, the user can, for example, confirm the surgical robot's pose as viewed through a camera and subsequently control the surgical robot to a pose 2430 within the limits relative to the current pose of the surgical robot. However, the user input interaction part previously operated by the user exists in a state corresponding to the surgical robot being driven to the target posture 2420, which will result in a direction change different from the user's intuitive expectation when the user changes the direction of the surgical robot through the main control device.

[0087] To address this issue, a solution could be to directly modify the target pose input to the inverse kinematics transformation based on the pose generated by the joint limit angle constraint algorithm. However, directly modifying the pose or orientation information numerically cannot avoid the accumulation of numerical errors in computer-based calculations. This can lead to problems such as drastic changes in the robot's joint angles caused by the modified target pose.

[0088] According to the method and device for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, even if some or all of the joints of the surgical robot reach the restricted angle, inverse kinematic conversion can be performed, and at the same time, when the user operates the user input interaction unit of the main device to control the surgical robot, the usability will not be affected. The surgical robot can execute the joint restriction constraint algorithm, and if one or more joints perform inverse kinematic conversion in a state where the restricted value is reached, the reference posture information of the surgical robot and the main device can be initialized. If the reference posture information of the surgical robot and the main control device is initialized, the posture of the surgical robot represented by the restricted joint and the target posture input by the main control device become the same, which can solve the problem of differences in the coordinate system including the rotation axis. Here, in the process of initializing the reference posture information of the main device by the surgical robot receiving a signal, the user may feel that the operation of the surgical robot pauses due to communication delays, but by utilizing communication technologies such as EtherCAT communication or TCP communication, it is possible to achieve a communication delay speed that is significantly shorter than the reference time for judging the failure of the inverse kinematic conversion.

[0089] Hereinafter, the method and device for driving a surgical device according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0090] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of a system for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment.

[0091] See Figure 1 , the system 1000 includes a user terminal 2000 and a server 3000. For example, the user terminal 2000 and the server 3000 may be connected via wired or wireless communication to send and receive data between each other.

[0092] For ease of description, Figure 1 The system 1000 is shown as including a user terminal 2000 and a server 3000, but is not limited thereto. For example, the system 1000 may include other external devices (not shown), and the operations of the user terminal 2000 and the server 3000 described below may also be implemented by a single device (e.g., the user terminal 2000 or the server 3000) or multiple devices.

[0093] User terminal 2000 may be a computing device having a display device and a device for receiving user input (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.), and including memory and a processor. For example, the display device may be implemented as a touch screen to receive user input. For example, user terminal 2000 may be a notebook computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0094] The server 3000 may be a device that includes the user terminal 2000 and communicates with an external device (not shown). For example, the server 3000 may be a device that stores various data.

[0095] Alternatively, server 3000 may be a device including a memory and a processor and having self-computing capabilities. As an example, server 3000 may execute at least some of the operations of user terminal 2000, which will be described later with reference to the accompanying drawings. For example, server 3000 may be a cloud server, but is not limited thereto.

[0096] According to one aspect, user terminal 2000 can drive a surgical device. In the present disclosure, the following method of driving a surgical device may be described as being performed by a computing device. For example, the computing device may be user terminal 2000 or server 3000, but is not limited thereto. The computing device may be any one or more computing devices including a processor. For ease of description, the following description will describe the process of controlling the surgical device by user terminal 2000. However, it should be noted that this is merely for the purpose of describing the present invention, and the method of controlling a surgical device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by any computing device.

[0097] User terminal 2000 can generate operation information representing the user's actions in manipulating the surgical device. For example, the operation information may include positional information and / or directional information in a three-dimensional coordinate system, indicating how the user's actions manipulate the position and function of the surgical device. In the present disclosure, the operation information can be determined based on the amount of change in a reference gesture relative to a user input interface, such as a joystick.

[0098] The target posture of the surgical device may refer to the posture the surgical device is expected to assume after operating in response to the operational information. The operational information, i.e., the movement of the surgical device in response to the degree of change in the user input interaction unit, can be determined based on a predetermined correspondence. This correspondence can vary depending on the embodiment or configuration. For example, the movement of the surgical device in response to the degree of change in the user input interaction unit can be set to be smaller to achieve more precise control, or larger to achieve more immediate and rapid control. The target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operational information of the user input interaction unit can be determined based on this configuration.

[0099] The target state information for the drive component includes the state value that at least one drive component of the surgical device needs to take in order for the surgical device to achieve the target posture. For example, in the present disclosure, the drive component of the surgical device may include at least one joint, and the target state information according to one aspect may include a target joint angle, but is not limited thereto. For example, to obtain the target joint angle of at least one joint of the surgical device based on the target posture of the surgical device, an inverse kinematics transformation may be performed. According to one aspect, the inverse kinematics transformation may be performed according to Newton-Raphson numerical inverse kinematics based on numerical analysis, but is not limited thereto. However, it should be noted that any of various inverse kinematics transformation methods that exist or will be developed in the future may be applied, for example, inverse kinematics transformation using an artificial neural network. Below, for ease of description, the description will be based on Newton-Raphson numerical inverse kinematics.

[0100] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the user terminal 2000 may determine the target state information of the driving component based on whether the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information exceeds the driving limit of at least one driving component of the surgical device. According to one aspect, the target state information may be a target joint angle, but is not limited thereto. For example, if the target joint angle corresponding to the target posture is within the joint limit angle, the target joint angle may be repeatedly calculated according to a conventional numerical analysis method until a predetermined threshold is met, and the target joint angle may be determined when the difference between the target joint angle and the current angle is sufficiently smaller than the threshold. On the contrary, in the case where the target joint angle corresponding to the target posture exceeds the joint limit angle, the modified safe joint angle is determined by constraining the target joint angle to be within the joint limit angle, and the safe joint angle is determined as the final target joint angle.

[0101] Then, based on the determined target state information, a drive component of a surgical device, such as a joint, can be driven. According to one aspect, when the modified target state information, constrained within the drive limits, is applied to at least one drive component, the reference posture of the user input interface can be initialized to the state after the user's operation. This eliminates the obstacle to intuitive control caused by the difference between the reference posture perceived by the user from the current state of the surgical device and the reference posture of the user input interface, and allows the surgical device to be driven more reliably according to the user's intuitive intent.

[0102] Here, Figure 1 The application in the application may be a software program installed for the purpose of driving the activities of the surgical device of user 4000. For example, user 4000 may use the application to perform various activities, such as generating operation information based on the amount of change in the reference posture of the user input interface for controlling the surgical device; determining a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; determining target state information of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device based on whether the target posture exceeds the drive limit of the drive component; or driving the drive component based on the target state information.

[0103] Alternatively, user terminal 2000 may output an image 5000 representing the motion of the surgical device driven by user 4000's motion. For example, user terminal 2000 may generate operation information based on the amount of change in the reference posture of the user input interaction unit used by user 4000 to control the surgical device. Furthermore, user terminal 2000 may determine a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information and, based on whether the target posture exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component included in the surgical device, determine target state information for the drive component. User terminal 2000 may then drive the drive component based on the determined target state information and output an image 5000 representing the motion of the surgical device thus driven. By using image 5000 representing the motion of the surgical device, user 4000 can intuitively understand the motion of the surgical device based on the user's motion, enabling more accurate operation of the surgical device.

[0104] As previously mentioned, at least some of the actions of user terminal 2000 described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings may also be performed by server 3000. For example, server 3000 may perform various activities, such as generating operation information based on a change in a reference posture of a user input interface for controlling a surgical device; determining a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; determining target state information of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device based on whether the target posture exceeds a drive limit of the drive component; or driving the drive component based on the target state information. Alternatively, at least some of the activities described above may be performed by server 3000, and at least some may be performed by user terminal 2000.

[0105] Figure 2A FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing an example of a user terminal according to an embodiment.

[0106] See Figure 2A , the user terminal 2010 includes a processor 2011, a memory 2012, an input / output interface 2013 and a communication module 2014. For ease of description, Figure 2A Only components relevant to the present invention are shown. Figure 2A In addition to the components shown, the user terminal 2010 may also include other common components. Figure 2A The processor 2011, memory 2012, I / O interface 2013 and communication module 2014 shown in the figure can be implemented by independent devices, which is obvious to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates.

[0107] The processor 2011 can process computer program instructions by performing basic arithmetic, logic, and input / output calculations. Here, the instructions can be provided by the memory 2012 or an external device (such as the server 3000). In addition, the processor 2011 can also perform overall control over the operations of other components included in the user terminal 2010.

[0108] First, the processor 2011 generates operation information related to the user's motion for driving the surgical device. For example, the processor 2011 may generate operation information related to the user's motion based on a method that allows the position and function of the surgical device to be manipulated by the user's motion.

[0109] Methods for enabling user manipulation of the position and function of a surgical device can be implemented as a handle-shaped operating component, but are not limited to this. Various shapes can be employed to achieve the same purpose. For example, some can be implemented as a handle, others as a clutch button, or as a finger insertion tube for inserting and securing a surgeon's finger to facilitate operation of the surgical device. Hereinafter, in this disclosure, a device operable by user manipulation may also be referred to as a user input interface.

[0110] Here, the processor 2011 may update the reference posture of the user input interaction unit using the pre-operation posture information of the user input interaction unit before the user performs the first operation on the user input interaction unit. Since the user can drive the surgical device based on the degree to which the user input interaction unit has been changed by the user, before the user performs the first operation, the reference posture of the user input interaction unit can be initialized to the state before the user operation. The difference between the state of the user input interaction unit after the user operation and the state of the user input interaction unit before the user operation, i.e., the amount of change in the user input interaction unit, can be determined.

[0111] Processor 2011 may generate operation information based on the amount of change in the reference posture of the user input interaction unit. Operation information refers to information representing the user's intuitive actions for manipulating the position and function of the surgical device. More specifically, and without limitation, the operation information may include position and orientation information in a physical coordinate system, indicating the method by which the user manipulates the position and function of the surgical device. As an example, the operation information may include a transformation matrix representing linear and rotational movement in a homogeneous coordinate system. The transformation matrix may be a homogeneous transform matrix, which may include rotation matrix information and translation vector information. As another example, the operation information may include position and orientation information in a physical coordinate system represented by a screw or other representation. However, examples of operation information are not limited to the above. Operation information may be determined based on the amount of change in the reference posture of the user input interaction unit. Here, the operation information may represent the amount of change relative to the reference posture, and the reference posture may represent the degree of change of the user input interaction unit relative to the origin. However, the reference posture and operation information can be represented by the Homogeneous transformation matrix or the screw method as described above.

[0112] Alternatively, the processor 2011 may generate operation information based on a method for enabling a user to manipulate the position and function of a surgical device, such as position information and orientation information of a user input interface. For example, the processor 2011 may generate operation information based on the difference between initial position information and orientation information of the method for enabling a user to manipulate the position and function of a surgical device and position information and orientation information after the user's manipulation of the method. In one aspect, the processor 2011 may generate operation information based on a change in a reference gesture of the user input interface according to a user manipulation.

[0113] Furthermore, the processor 2011 may determine a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information based on the operation information. For example, the processor 2011 may determine a target posture of a multi-jointed surgical device based on the operation information. According to one aspect, the processor 2011 may determine the target posture based on a correspondence between a predetermined movement of the user input interaction unit and a movement of the surgical device.

[0114] The processor 2011 determines target state information for at least one drive component of the surgical device, considering whether the target posture exceeds a drive limit of the at least one drive component. As a non-limiting example, the at least one drive component of the surgical device may include a joint, and the target state information may include a target joint angle. Furthermore, the drive limit of the drive component may include a joint limit angle.

[0115] For example, in response to determining that the target posture exceeds the driving limit of at least one driving component included in the surgical device, the processor 2011 may be configured to determine, as the target state information, modified state information in which the driving result of the driving component is constrained within the driving limit. Specifically, as a non-limiting example, if, based on the target posture, it is determined that at least one joint included in the surgical device needs to exceed the joint angle limit, the processor 2011 may determine the target state information, i.e., the target joint angle, to have a joint angle constrained within the joint angle limit.

[0116] Here, the modified state information can be determined as the more the target posture exceeds the drive limit, the closer the drive result of the drive component is to the drive limit. For example, in a case where the joint angle according to the target posture exceeds the joint limit angle by 10 degrees, it can be determined that the modified target joint angle has a value closer to the joint limit angle than a case where the joint angle according to the target posture exceeds the joint limit angle by 5 degrees. As a non-limiting example, assuming that the joint limit angle is 90 degrees, if the target joint angle according to the target posture is 100 degrees, the modified target joint angle can be determined to be 89.95 degrees, and if the target joint angle based on the target posture is 95 degrees, the modified target joint angle can be determined to be 89.90 degrees.

[0117] For example, the processor 2011 can determine the drive component difference information based on the degree of state change of the drive component required to change the surgical device to the target posture; can determine the modified state information that the driving result of the drive component is constrained within the range of the driving limit; and can determine whether the target posture exceeds the driving limit of the drive component based on the drive component difference information and the modified state information.

[0118] That is, processor 2011 first determines drive assembly difference information by calculating the extent to which the state of the drive assembly needs to change to achieve the target posture, regardless of whether the drive limit has been reached. According to one aspect, processor 2011 can determine the drive assembly difference information by first determining the current posture of the surgical device based on information about the current state of the drive assembly, then determining posture difference information based on the difference between the target posture and the current posture, and converting the determined posture difference information into drive assembly difference information using a physical quantity representing robot kinematics information, such as a Jacob matrix.

[0119] In addition, in order to cope with the situation where the range of motion of the drive component exceeds the drive limit, the processor 2011 can determine the modified state information, that is, the value of the range of motion of the drive component constrained within the drive limit. According to one aspect, the processor 2011 can determine the modified state information using a tangent function based on the previously determined drive component difference information, the upstream drive limit value of the drive component, and the downstream drive limit value of the drive component. The mechanism for determining non-restrictive but more specific modified state information will be described in detail below. For example, if the drive component is a joint, the safe joint information of the constrained joint angle that is constrained within the joint limit is an example of the modified state information.

[0120] Next, the processor 2011 can determine whether the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the drive information exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device by comparing the determined drive component difference information with the modified state information. For example, the processor 2011 can determine whether the drive limit is exceeded based on whether the difference between the modified drive component difference information and the drive component difference information exceeds a predetermined first threshold. Here, the modified drive component difference information can refer to the difference between the modified state information and information regarding the current state of the drive component. Specifically, the processor 2011 can calculate the difference between the drive component difference information determined without constraint on the drive limit and the modified drive component difference information determined to be constrained within the drive limit if the drive limit is reached. If the difference exceeds the predetermined first threshold, the processor 2011 determines that the drive limit is exceeded and needs to be constrained within the drive limit. As a non-limiting but more specific example, the first threshold can be a difference determination constant, which will be described in more detail later herein.

[0121] After determining whether the drive limit of at least one drive component is exceeded, the processor 2011 may determine the target state information for the drive component based on whether the drive limit is exceeded. For example, in response to determining that the drive limit is exceeded, the processor 2011 may determine the modified state information as the target state information. That is, if the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the drive information exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device, the processor 2011 may determine the modified state information as a value constrained within the drive limit as the target state information of the drive component. Therefore, based on one embodiment of the present disclosure, when performing real-time kinematic conversion according to existing numerical analysis methods, a determination of failure of the kinematic conversion due to exceeding the drive limit will not be made until a predetermined time has passed, thereby solving the problem of interruption of the surgical action of the surgical device due to delay in algorithm calculation time.

[0122] Alternatively, in response to determining that the drive limit is not exceeded and that the drive assembly difference information is less than a second threshold, the processor 2011 may determine the target state information by adding the drive assembly difference information to the current state information of the drive assembly. The processor 2011 may repeatedly perform the process of determining the target state information until it determines that the drive limit is exceeded or the drive assembly difference information is less than the second threshold. That is, the processor 2011 may repeatedly perform the steps of determining the drive assembly difference information, determining the modified state information, determining whether the drive limit is exceeded, and determining whether the drive assembly difference information is less than the second threshold until it determines that the drive limit is exceeded or the drive assembly difference information is less than the second threshold. Here, as a non-limiting example, the second threshold may be an ε determination constant, which may refer to a reference value used to determine a value sufficiently close to zero during computer calculations. The processor 2011 may repeat this step until the drive limit is not exceeded and the drive assembly difference information is less than the ε determination constant, thereby calculating the drive assembly difference information required to achieve the target posture corresponding to the user operation information and determining the target state information by adding the calculated drive assembly difference information to the current state information of the surgical device.

[0123] After determining the target state information, the processor 2011 can drive at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device according to the target state information. For example, the processor 2011 can drive at least one joint equipped in the surgical device according to the determined target joint angle to control the joint to have the target joint angle.

[0124] Alternatively, the processor 2011 may be configured to, in response to determining that the target posture exceeds the drive limits of at least one drive assembly included in the surgical device, update the reference posture of the user input interaction unit using the posture information after the user input interaction unit's manipulation. As previously described, when the drive assembly of the surgical device is driven within the drive limits, the user will perform subsequent control based on the state of the surgical device in the restricted state. However, the movement of the user input interaction unit will be based on the state actually manipulated by the user, rather than the restricted state. Consequently, there is a discrepancy between the reference state of the control perceived by the user and the reference state of the user input interaction unit perceived by the processor 2011, resulting in control execution that differs somewhat from the user's intent, hindering intuitive control. Therefore, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, when the drive range of the drive assembly is constrained within the drive limits, the reference posture of the user input interaction unit is updated based on the state after the user manipulates the user input interaction unit to match the current state of the user input interaction unit with a state recognizable by the current drive state of the surgical device, thereby enabling the user to perform intuitive control via the user input interaction unit.

[0125] A specific operation example of the processor 2011 according to an embodiment will be described in more detail later with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0126] The processor 2011 may be implemented as an array of multiple logic gates, or as a combination of a general-purpose microprocessor and a memory storing programs executable on the microprocessor. For example, the processor 2011 may include a general-purpose processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a controller, a microcontroller, a state machine, etc. In some environments, the processor 2011 may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. For example, the processor 2011 may also refer to a combination of processing devices, such as a combination of a digital signal processor (DSP) and a microprocessor, a combination of multiple microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor (DSP) core, or any other such configuration.

[0127] The memory 2012 may include any non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. As an example, the memory 2012 may include a non-temporary mass storage device, such as RAM (random access memory), ROM (read only memory), a disk drive, an SSD (solid state drive), a flash memory, or the like. As another example, the non-temporary mass storage device, such as ROM, SSD, flash memory, or an optical drive, may be a separate persistent storage device different from the memory. In addition, the memory 2012 may store an operating system (OS) and at least one program code (e.g., code for the processor 2011 to perform actions described later in conjunction with the accompanying drawings).

[0128] The software components can be loaded from a computer-readable recording medium independent of the memory 2012. These independent computer-readable recording media can be recording media that can be directly connected to the user terminal 2010, and can include, for example, a floppy drive, an optical disk, a magnetic tape, a DVD / CD-ROM drive, a memory card, or other computer-readable recording media. Alternatively, the software components can be loaded into the memory 2012 via the communication module 2014, rather than via a computer-readable recording medium. For example, at least one program can be loaded into the memory 2012 based on a computer program (e.g., a computer program that causes the processor 211 to perform actions described later in conjunction with the accompanying drawings) that is installed via a file provided by a developer or a file distribution system that distributes application installation files via the communication module 2014.

[0129] The input / output interface 2013 may provide a means for interfacing with a device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) for input or output that is connectable to the user terminal 2010 or included in the user terminal 2010. The input / output interface 2013 may be configured separately from the processor 2011, but is not limited thereto. The input / output interface 2013 may also be configured to be included in the processor 2011.

[0130] The communication module 2014 can provide configurations or functions for the server 3000 and the user terminal 2010 to communicate with each other via a network. Furthermore, the communication module 2014 can also provide configurations or functions for communication between the user terminal 2010 and other external devices. For example, control signals, commands, data, etc. provided under the control of the processor 2011 can be transmitted to the server 3000 and / or external devices via the communication module 2014 and the network.

[0131] also, Figure 2A Although not shown, the user terminal 2010 may also include a display device. For example, the display device may be implemented as a touch screen. Alternatively, the user terminal 2010 may be connected to a separate display device via wired or wireless communication to transmit and receive data. For example, the display device may provide a video or image of the surgical device being driven using the driving information.

[0132] Figure 2B FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing an example of a server according to an embodiment.

[0133] See Figure 2B , the server 3010 includes a processor 3011, a memory 3012 and a communication module 3013. For ease of description, Figure 2B Only components relevant to the present invention are shown. Figure 2B In addition to the components shown, the server 3010 may also include other common components. Figure 2B The processor 3011, memory 3012 and communication module 3013 shown in FIG can be implemented by independent devices, which is obvious to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates.

[0134] The processor 3011 can perform various activities, such as generating operation information based on the change in the reference posture of the user input interaction part for controlling the surgical device; or determining the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; or determining the target state information of the driving component based on whether the target posture exceeds the driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device; or driving the driving component according to the target state information.

[0135] In other words, see Figure 2A, at least one of the operations of the processor 2011 described above may be performed by the processor 3011. In this case, the user terminal 2010 may output the information received from the server 3010 through the display device.

[0136] In addition, the implementation example of the processor 3011 is similar to that of the reference Figure 2A The implementation example of the processor 2011 described is the same, so it will not be repeated.

[0137] The memory 3012 can store various data, such as data required for the operation of the processor 3011, data generated by the operation of the processor 3011, etc. In addition, the memory 3012 can also store an operating system (OS) and at least one program (eg, a program required for the operation of the processor 3011).

[0138] In addition, the implementation example of the memory 3012 is similar to that of the memory 3012. Figure 2A The implementation example of the memory 2012 described is the same, so it will not be repeated.

[0139] The communication module 3013 can provide configurations or functions for the server 3010 and the user terminal 2010 to communicate with each other via a network. Furthermore, the communication module 2014 can also provide configurations or functions for communication between the server 3010 and other external devices. For example, control signals, commands, data, etc. provided under the control of the processor 3011 can be transmitted to the user terminal 2010 and / or external devices via the communication module 3013 and the network.

[0140] Figure 3 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for illustrating another example of a system for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment. Figure 4 To express Figure 3 A block diagram of the internal structure of the surgical robot system, Figure 5 To express Figure 3 An oblique view of the surgical robot system from the robot and the articulated surgical device mounted thereon.

[0141] See Figures 3 to 5 The surgical robot system 1 includes a master robot 10 , a slave robot 20 , and a multi-joint surgical device 30 .

[0142] The master robot 10 includes an operating unit 10 a and a display unit 10 b , and the slave robot 20 includes one or more robot arm units 21 , 22 , and 23 .

[0143] The main robot 10 includes an operating part 10a for the surgeon to operate with both hands. Figure 3As shown, the operating component 10a can be implemented by two or more handles. Operation signals based on the operator's manipulation of the handles are transmitted to the slave robot 20 via a wired or wireless communication network to control the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23. Specifically, the operator's manipulation of the handles causes the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 to perform surgical actions such as positional movement, rotation, and cutting. The operation signals can be, but are not limited to, operational information generated by a processor.

[0144] For example, a surgeon can use a joystick in the form of a handle to operate the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23. The joystick can have various configurations depending on its operation method and can be used in various forms to operate the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 of the slave robot 20 and / or other surgical devices. Examples include a main handle for manipulating the movements of the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23, and various input tools attached to the master robot 10 for operating the functions of the entire system, such as a joystick, keyboard, trackball, foot pedal, touch screen, etc. The operating member 10a is not limited to a handle shape; any form is acceptable as long as it can control the movements of the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 via a network, such as a wired or wireless communication network.

[0145] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, operation information can be generated based on the operating lever or operating member 10a. For example, according to one embodiment of the present invention, operation information can be generated based on the actions of a user operating the operating lever or operating member 10a. However, examples of generating operation information are not limited to the above.

[0146] Furthermore, the surgical robot system 1 can also accept user input in the form of voice or motion input. Specifically, the user can wear glasses or a head-mounted display (HMD) equipped with sensors and move the laparoscope 50 in the direction of their gaze. Alternatively, if the user issues voice commands such as "left," "right," "arm 1," "arm 2," and so on, the system can recognize and execute the action. For example, according to one embodiment of the present invention, operational information can be generated based on the user's voice.

[0147] The display unit 10b of the master robot 10 displays a video captured by a laparoscope 50 described later. A predetermined virtual operation panel may be displayed on the display unit 10b together with the video captured by the laparoscope 50 or separately.

[0148] The display unit 10b can be composed of one or more displays, each of which can independently display the information required for surgery. The number of displays can be determined based on the type or category of information to be displayed.

[0149] On the other hand, the slave robot 20 may include one or more robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23. Here, each robotic arm unit 21, 22, and 23 may be configured as a module that can operate independently. In this case, an algorithm for preventing collisions between the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 may be applied to the surgical robot system 1.

[0150] Generally speaking, a robotic arm refers to a device that functions similarly to a human arm and / or wrist, with the ability to attach a specific tool to the wrist. In this disclosure, robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 can be defined as a comprehensive concept encompassing the upper arm, lower arm, wrist, elbow, and the multi-jointed surgical device attached to the wrist. Alternatively, they can be defined as encompassing only the components used to drive the articulated surgical device, excluding the articulated surgical device attached to the wrist.

[0151] Therefore, the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 of the slave robot 20 can be implemented as a multi-degree-of-freedom drive. For example, the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 may include a surgical instrument for insertion into the surgical site of the patient, a yaw drive unit for rotating the surgical instrument in a yaw direction according to the surgical position, a pitch drive unit for rotating the surgical instrument in a pitch direction orthogonal to the rotation drive of the yaw drive unit, a feed drive unit for moving the surgical instrument in a longitudinal direction, a rotation drive unit for rotating the surgical instrument, and a surgical instrument drive unit for driving the end effector at the end of the surgical instrument to incise or cut the surgical lesion. However, it should be understood that the structure of the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 is not limited to this, and the example does not limit the scope of the present invention. Here, a detailed description of the actual control process is omitted, such as the surgeon operating the operating component 10a to rotate or move the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 in the corresponding direction.

[0152] Here, two of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 can be attached to the articulated surgical device 30, and one can be attached to the laparoscope 50. The surgeon can then select the robot arm unit 21, 22, or 23 that they wish to control via the master robot 10. Thus, the surgeon can directly control three or more surgical instruments via the master robot 10, allowing the surgeon to accurately and freely manipulate various instruments as desired without the need for a surgical assistant.

[0153] On the other hand, one or more slave robots 20 may be equipped to perform surgery on a patient, and the laparoscope 50 for displaying the surgical site as a video image through the display unit 10b may be implemented as an independent slave robot 20. In addition, as described above, the embodiments of the present invention can be generally used for surgeries using various surgical endoscopes other than laparoscopes (e.g., thoracoscopes, arthroscopes, nasal endoscopes, etc.).

[0154] In addition, the master robot 10 can perform various activities, such as generating operation information based on the change in the reference posture of the user input interaction part for controlling the surgical device; or determining the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information; or determining the target state information of the driving component based on whether the target posture exceeds the driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device; or driving the driving component according to the target state information.

[0155] For example, the master robot 10 can transmit at least one target state information of the drive components determined based on the operation information to the slave robot 20 via a wired or wireless communication network to control the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23. That is, through the surgeon's manipulation of the handles, surgical actions such as positional movement, rotation, and cutting of the robotic arm units 21, 22, and 23 are performed. Specifically, if the master robot 10 determines the operation information, the determined operation information can be transmitted to the slave robot 20 via a wired or wireless communication network, and the slave robot 20 can determine the target state information based on the operation information. Alternatively, the master robot 10 can also determine the target state information corresponding to the operation information and transmit the determined target state information to the slave robot 20.

[0156] See Figure 4 In one embodiment of the present invention, the master robot 10 may include a video input unit 11, a screen display unit 12, a user input interaction unit 13, an operation signal generation unit 14, a control unit 15, a memory 16, a storage unit 17 and a communication unit 18.

[0157] On the other hand, the master robot 10 may include Figure 2A For example, the operation signal generating unit 14, the control unit 15, etc. may be included in the processor 2011, the memory 16, the storage unit 17, etc. may be included in the memory 2012, and the communication unit 18 may be included in the communication module 2014, but the example of the master robot 10 is not limited to the above content.

[0158] The video input unit 11 may receive a video captured by a camera of the laparoscope 50 of the slave robot 20 via a wired or wireless communication network. The video captured by the camera may include an image showing the motion of the surgical device driven according to the target state information.

[0159] The screen display unit 12 outputs an image corresponding to the video received through the video input unit 11 in the form of visual information. In addition, when the patient's biological information is input, the screen display unit 12 can also output corresponding information. In addition, the screen display unit 12 can also output relevant image data of the patient at the surgical site (for example, X-ray images, CT images, MRI images, etc.). Here, the screen display unit 12 can be implemented as a display component (see Figure 3 10b) and the like, and the control unit 15 may perform an image processing process so that the received video is output as an image through the screen display unit 12. Here, the image may include an image representing the action of the surgical device driven according to the target state information.

[0160] exist Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, the video input unit and screen display unit are shown as being included in the main robot 10, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The display unit may be provided as an independent component separate from the main robot 10. Alternatively, the display unit may be provided as a component of the main robot 10. Furthermore, in other embodiments, multiple display units may be provided, one of which may be provided near the main robot 10, while the others may be provided at a distance from the main robot 10.

[0161] Here, the screen display unit 12 (i.e. Figure 3 The display component 10b) in the image processing unit 10b can be configured as a stereoscopic display device. Specifically, a stereoscopic display device refers to an image display device that adds depth information to a two-dimensional image by applying stereoscopic technology, and uses this depth information to provide the observer with a three-dimensional sense of vividness and realism. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the surgical robot system 1, by incorporating a stereoscopic display device such as the screen display unit 12, provides the user with a more realistic virtual environment.

[0162] The user input interface 13 is a device that allows the operator to control the position and function of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 of the slave robot 20. Figure 3 As shown, the user input interaction portion 13 can be formed as a handle-shaped operating component (see Figure 3 10a), but its shape is not limited to this, and it can be deformed into various shapes to achieve the same purpose. In addition, for example, some can be formed into the shape of a handle, some can be formed into different shapes such as a clutch button, and can also be formed into the shape of a finger insertion tube or an insertion hook for inserting and fixing the operator's fingers to facilitate the operation of the surgical device.

[0163] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, operation information may be generated based on an operator's actions on the user input interaction unit 13. For example, according to one embodiment of the present invention, operation information may be generated based on an operator's actions on the user input interaction unit 13. However, examples of generating operation information are not limited to the above.

[0164] When the surgeon operates the user input interface 13 to move the positions of the robotic arm units 21, 22, 23 or perform a surgical procedure, the operation signal generator 14 may generate a corresponding operation signal. For example, when the surgeon operates the user input interface 13 to move the positions of the robotic arm units 21, 22, 23 or perform a surgical procedure, the operation signal generator 14 may generate corresponding operation information.

[0165] For example, the operation signal generating unit 14 transmits the generated operation signal to the control unit 15, or transmits it to the slave robot 20 through the communication unit 18. The operation signal can be sent and received through a wired or wireless communication network. Based on the transmitted operation signal, the control unit 15 can control the operation of the slave robot 20 or the articulated surgical device 30. Alternatively, based on the transmitted operation signal, the robot arm control unit 26 included in the slave robot 20 can control the operation of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23. Alternatively, based on the transmitted operation signal, the instrument control unit 27 included in the slave robot 20 can control the operation of the multi-joint surgical device 30. However, the method of controlling the operation of the slave robot 20 or the articulated surgical device 30 based on the operation signal is not limited to the case described above.

[0166] The instrument control unit 27 receives the operation signal generated by the operation signal generating unit 14 of the master robot 10 and controls the operation of the multi-joint surgical apparatus 30 according to the operation signal.

[0167] The control unit 15 is a central processing unit that controls the actions of each component in order to perform the functions described above. As an example, the control unit 15 may also perform a function of converting a video input through the product input unit 11 into an image displayed through the screen display unit 12. As another example, the control unit 15 may generate a target posture of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 based on the operation information. In addition, the control unit 15 may determine whether the driving limit of at least one driving component of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 is exceeded based on the target posture. In addition, the control unit 15 may determine the target state information of at least one driving component based on the judgment result of whether the driving limit is exceeded. In addition, the control unit 15 may drive the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 based on the determined target state information.

[0168] In addition, although as mentioned above, it is described that the target posture is calculated based on the operation information in the control unit 15, and whether the drive limit and target state information are exceeded is determined, it is not limited to this and can be executed by other control units according to the present disclosure (for example, the robot arm control unit 26, the instrument control unit 27, etc.).

[0169] The memory 16 may temporarily or permanently store data processed by the control unit 15. Here, the memory 16 may include a magnetic storage medium or a flash storage medium, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0170] The storage unit 17 can store data received from the slave robot 20. In addition, the storage unit 17 can store various input data (for example, patient data, device data, operation data, etc.).

[0171] The communication unit 18 provides a communication interface for communicating with the communication network 60 to transmit and receive video data transmitted from the slave robot 20 and control data transmitted from the master robot 10. The video data transmitted from the slave robot 20 may include images representing the motion of a surgical device driven according to target state information. The control data transmitted from the master robot 10 may include at least one of operational information regarding a change in a user input interaction unit or target state information related to the motion of the slave robot 20.

[0172] The slave robot 20 includes a plurality of robot unit control units 21 a , 22 a , and 23 a . The robot unit control unit 21 a also includes a robot control unit 26 , an instrument control unit 27 , and a communication unit 29 .

[0173] The robot arm control unit 26 receives the operation signal generated by the operation signal generating unit 14 of the master robot 10 and controls the operation of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 based on the operation signal. For example, the robot arm control unit 26 receives operation information or target state information calculated by the master robot 10 and controls the operation of the robot arm units 21, 22, and 23 based on the operation signal.

[0174] The instrument control unit 27 receives the operation signal generated by the operation signal generating unit 14 of the master robot 10 and controls the operation of the multi-jointed surgical apparatus 30 based on the operation signal. For example, the instrument control unit 27 receives operation information or target state information calculated by the master robot 10 and controls the operation of the multi-jointed surgical apparatus 30 based on the operation signal.

[0175] The communication unit 29 provides a communication interface for communicating with the communication network 60 to transmit and receive video data transmitted from the slave robot 20 and control data transmitted from the master robot 10. The video data transmitted from the slave robot 20 may include images representing the motion of a surgical device driven according to target state information. The control data transmitted from the master robot 10 may include at least one of operational information related to the motion of the slave robot 20 or target state information.

[0176] On the other hand, the communication network 60 serves to connect the master robot 10 and the slave robot 20. Specifically, the communication network 60 provides an access path for the master robot 10 and the slave robot 20 to send and receive data to and from each other after the connection. The communication network 60 may include wired networks such as LANs (Local Area Networks), WANs (Wide Area Networks), MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks), and ISDNs (Integrated Service Digital Networks), as well as wireless networks such as wireless LANs, CDMA, Bluetooth, and satellite communications, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0177] Figure 6 is a perspective view showing a multi-joint surgical instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 7 and Figure 8 yes Figure 6 A perspective view of a terminal tool of a multi-joint surgical instrument, Figures 9A to 9B yes Figure 6 A top view of the end tool of a multi-jointed surgical instrument. Figure 10 and Figure 11 yes Figure 6 A three-dimensional diagram of the driving portion of a multi-joint surgical instrument, Figure 12 yes Figure 6 A top view of the driving portion of a multi-joint surgical instrument, Figure 13 yes Figure 6 Rear view of the driving part of the multi-joint surgical instrument, Figure 14 yes Figure 6 A side view of the drive unit of a multi-joint surgical instrument.

[0178] First, refer to Figure 6 According to an embodiment of the present invention, a multi-joint surgical instrument 30 includes an end tool 100 , a driving part 200 , a power transmission part 300 , and the power transmission part 300 may include a connecting part 310 .

[0179] The connecting portion 310 is formed in the shape of a hollow shaft so that it can accommodate one or more wires (described later) inside it, and the driving portion 200 is coupled to one end thereof and the terminal tool 100 is coupled to the other end so as to be able to connect the driving portion 200 and the terminal tool 100.

[0180] The driving portion 200 is formed at one end of the connecting portion 310 and provides a connection with the robot arm unit (see Figure 3 21, etc.) combined with the interface. Therefore, when the user operates the active robot (refer to Figure 3 10), the robot arm unit (refer to Figure 3 21, etc.) to operate, so that the end tool 100 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 performs the corresponding action, and the driving force of the motor (not shown) is transmitted to the end tool 100 through the driving unit 200. From another perspective, it can be explained that the driving unit 200 itself is the interface between the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 and the driven robot 20.

[0181] For example, when the user operates the user input interaction part (refer to Figure 3 13), the robot arm unit (refer to Figure 3 21, etc.) to operate so that the terminal tool 100 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 performs the corresponding action, and the driving force of the motor (not shown) can be transmitted to the terminal tool 100 through the driving part 200.

[0182] The terminal tool 100 is formed at the other end of the connecting portion 310 and is inserted into the surgical site to perform the required operation. As an example of such a terminal tool 100, Figure 7 As shown, a pair of jaws 101 and 102 for performing a gripping action can be used. However, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various devices used for surgery can be used as the terminal tool 100. For example, a single-arm cautery device or the like can also be used as a terminal tool. Such a terminal tool 100 is connected to the driving unit 200 via a power transmission unit 300 to receive the driving force of the driving unit 200 through the power transmission unit 300, thereby being able to perform actions required for surgery such as gripping, cutting, and suturing.

[0183] The terminal tool 100 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention is formed to be rotatable in two or more directions. For example, the terminal tool 100 can be formed to be rotatable in two or more directions. Figure 7 While performing pitch motion with the rotation axis 143 as the center, Figure 7 The yaw motion and the actuation motion are performed with the rotation axis 141 as the center.

[0184] The definitions of pitch motion, yaw motion, actuation motion, and roll motion used in the present invention are as follows.

[0185] First, the pitch action refers to the movement of the end tool 100 relative to the extension direction of the connecting portion 310 ( Figure 7 The X-axis direction) rotates in the up and down direction, that is, Figure 7In other words, it means the movement of rotating along the extension direction ( Figure 7 The terminal tool 100 extends from the connecting portion 310 (in the X-axis direction) and rotates up and down with respect to the connecting portion 310 around the Y-axis.

[0186] Secondly, the yaw motion refers to the movement of the end tool 100 relative to the extension direction of the connecting portion 310 ( Figure 7 The X-axis direction) rotates in the left and right direction, that is, Figure 7 In other words, it means the movement of rotating along the extension direction ( Figure 7 The end tool 100 extends from the connection portion 310 (in the X-axis direction) and rotates left and right about the Z-axis relative to the connection portion 310. In other words, the two jaws 101 and 102 formed in the end tool 100 rotate in the same direction about the Z-axis.

[0187] On the other hand, actuation refers to the movement of the end tool 100 rotating about the same axis as the yaw movement, with the jaws 101 and 102 simultaneously rotating in opposite directions and contracting or expanding. In other words, this refers to the movement of the jaws 101 and 102 rotating in opposite directions about the Z-axis.

[0188] From another perspective, the deflection rotation can also be defined as the movement of the terminal tool clamp pulley described later rotating around the rotation axis 141 which serves as the rotation axis of the terminal tool clamp pulley, and the pitch rotation can also be defined as the movement of the terminal tool clamp pulley revolving around the rotation axis 143 which serves as the pitch rotation axis of the terminal tool.

[0189] The rolling action refers to the action of the multi-joint surgical instrument rotating with the connecting portion 310 as the axis. For example, the rolling action can be the multi-joint surgical instrument rotating with the connecting portion 310 extending in the direction ( Figure 7 The movement of rotating in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction (in the X-axis direction) as the center.

[0190] On the other hand, the rolling action may mean a movement in which the terminal tool 100 rotates with respect to the connecting portion 310 around the X axis. For example, the rolling action may be a movement in which the terminal tool rotates with respect to the extending direction of the connecting portion 310 ( Figure 7 The movement of rotating in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction (in the X-axis direction) as the center.

[0191] The power transmission unit 300 transmits the driving force of the driving unit 200 to the end tool 100 by connecting the driving unit 200 and the end tool 100 , and may include a plurality of wires, pulleys, connecting rods, nodes, gears, etc.

[0192] In the following, we will Figure 6 The terminal tool 100, the driving unit 200, the power transmission unit 300, etc. of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 will be described in more detail.

[0193] In the following, we will Figure 6 The power transmission portion 300 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 will be described in more detail.

[0194] Reference Figures 6 to 14 According to an embodiment of the present invention, the power transmission part 300 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 may include a wire 301, a wire 302, a wire 303, a wire 304, a wire 305, and a wire 306.

[0195] Wires 301 and 305 can form a pair to serve as the first jaw wire. Wires 302 and 306 can form a pair to serve as the second jaw wire. The components comprising wires 301 and 305 as the first jaw wires and wires 302 and 306 as the second jaw wires can be referred to as jaw wires. Furthermore, wires 303 and 304 can form a pair to serve as pitch wires.

[0196] The drawings illustrate that one pair of wires is associated with the rotational motion of the first jaw 101, and one pair of wires is associated with the rotational motion of the second jaw 102. However, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, one pair of wires may be associated with the yaw motion, and one pair of wires may be associated with the actuation motion.

[0197] In addition, the power transmission unit 300 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a fastening member 321, a fastening member 326, etc., coupled to each end of each wire to couple the wire to the pulley. Each fastening member may have various shapes as needed, such as a ball or tube.

[0198] The fastening member 321, which serves as a pitch wire fastening member, can be coupled to the ends of the pitch wires 303 and 304 on the side closer to the end tool 100, thereby functioning as a pitch wire-end tool fastening member. Meanwhile, although not shown, a pitch wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) can be coupled to the ends of the pitch wires 303 and 304 on the side closer to the drive unit 200.

[0199] Meanwhile, a fastening member 326, serving as a second-jaw wire fastening member, can be coupled to the ends of the second-jaw wires 302 and 306 on the side closer to the end tool 100, thereby functioning as a second-jaw wire-end tool fastening member. Meanwhile, although not shown, a second-jaw wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) can be coupled to the ends of the second-jaw wires 302 and 306 on the side closer to the drive unit 200.

[0200] On the other hand, although not shown in the figures, a fastening member (not shown) having the same shape as fastening member 326 may be attached to the ends of the first jaw wires, wires 301 and 305, on the side closer to the end tool 100, to function as a first jaw wire-end tool fastening member. On the other hand, although not shown in the figures, a first jaw wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) may be attached to the ends of the first jaw wires, wires 301 and 305, on the side closer to the drive unit 200.

[0201] Here, although each fastening member is classified as being included in the power transmission unit 300 , the fastening member close to the end tool 100 may be classified as being included in the end tool 100 and the fastening member close to the driving unit 200 may be included in the driving unit 200 .

[0202] The connection relationship between the wire, the fastening member and each pulley will be described in detail below.

[0203] First, wire 302 and wire 306, which serve as the second clamp wire, can be a single wire. After a fastening member 326, which serves as a fastening member for the second clamp wire and the terminal tool, is inserted into the middle of the second clamp wire, which serves as a single wire, and is secured by crimping, the two strands of the second clamp wire, centered around fastening member 326, can be referred to as wire 302 and wire 306, respectively.

[0204] Alternatively, the wire 302 and the wire 306 as the second clamp wire may be formed as separate wires, and the wire 302 and the wire 306 may be connected by the fastening member 326 .

[0205] Furthermore, the fastening member 326 can be coupled to the pulley 121 so that the wire 302 and the wire 306 are fixedly coupled to the pulley 121. Therefore, the pulley 121 can be rotated by pulling and releasing the wire 302 and the wire 306.

[0206] Meanwhile, a second jaw wire-actuator fastening member (not shown) may be coupled to the ends of the wires 302 and 306 opposite to where the fastening member 326 is fastened. Specifically, the ends of the wires 302 and 306 opposite to each other may be inserted into the second jaw wire-actuator fastening member (not shown), and the fastening member (not shown) may be pressed (crimped) to secure the wires 302 and 306 to the second jaw wire-actuator fastening member (not shown).

[0207] Furthermore, the second clamp wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) coupled to the wires 302 and 306 is coupled to the pulleys 221 and 222, respectively, thereby securing the wires 302 and 306 to the pulleys 221 and 222, respectively. Consequently, when the pulleys 221 and 222 are rotated by a motor or human power, the wires 302 and 306 are pulled and released, allowing the pulley 121 of the end tool 100 to rotate.

[0208] The second clamping pulley of the driving unit includes two pulleys, namely pulley 221 and pulley 222. Therefore, the second clamping wire-driving unit fastening member may also include two fastening members. Alternatively, the second clamping pulley of the driving unit includes a single pulley, the second clamping wire-driving unit fastening member also includes a single fastening member, and the wires 302 and 306 are connected to a single fastening member, or may be connected to a single second clamping pulley of the driving unit.

[0209] In a similar manner, wire 301 and wire 305, serving as the first jaw wire, are coupled to a first jaw wire-end tool fastening member (not shown) and a first jaw wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown), respectively. Furthermore, the first jaw wire-end tool fastening member (not shown) is coupled to pulley 111, and the first jaw wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) is coupled to pulleys 211 and 212. As a result, when pulleys 211 and 212 are rotated by a motor or human power, wire 301 and wire 305 are pulled and released, allowing pulley 111 of end tool 100 to rotate.

[0210] In a similar manner, one end of each of wires 303 and 304, serving as pitch wires, is coupled to a fastening member 321, serving as a pitch wire-end tool fastening member, while the other ends of wires 303 and 304 are coupled to a pitch wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown). Furthermore, fastening member 321 is coupled to pulley 131, and a pitch wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) is coupled to pulley 231. As a result, when pulley 231 is rotated by a motor or human power, wires 303 and 304 are pulled and released, allowing pulley 131 of end tool 100 to rotate.

[0211] As a result, the two wires of the first jaw wire, wire 301 and wire 305, can be combined with the fastening member 323 (the first jaw wire-terminal tool fastening member) and the first jaw wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown) to form a closed loop. Similarly, the second jaw wire and the pitch wire can also be formed into closed loops.

[0212] In the following, we will Figure 6 The terminal tool 100 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 will be described in more detail.

[0213] Figure 7 and Figure 8 It shows Figure 6 A perspective view of a terminal tool of a multi-joint surgical instrument, Figures 9A to 9B It shows Figure 6 A top view of the terminal tool of a multi-joint surgical instrument. Figure 7 The figure shows the state where the terminal tool hub 106 and the pitch hub 107 are combined. Figure 8 The state in which the end tool hub 106 and the pitch hub 107 are removed is shown.

[0214] Reference Figure 7 、 Figure 8 and Figures 9A to 9B An end tool 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a pair of jaws for performing a gripping action, namely, a first jaw 101 and a second jaw 102. The first jaw 101 and the second jaw 102 may be referred to as jaws 103, respectively, or the component including the first jaw 101 and the second jaw 102 may be referred to as jaws 103.

[0215] In addition, the end tool 100 may include pulleys 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, and 116 associated with the rotational movement of the first jaw 101. In addition, the end tool 100 may include pulleys 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, and 126 associated with the rotational movement of the second jaw 102.

[0216] The figures illustrate that one set of pulleys is associated with the rotational motion of the first jaw 101, and another set of pulleys is associated with the rotational motion of the second jaw 102. However, this embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, one set of pulleys in the end tool may be associated with yaw motion, and another set of pulleys may be associated with actuation motion. The pulleys included in the end tool 100, including these pulleys, may be collectively referred to as end tool pulleys.

[0217] On the other hand, in the drawings, the opposing pulleys are shown to be formed in parallel with each other, but an embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and each pulley may be formed in various positions and sizes suitable for the structure of the end tool.

[0218] In addition, an end tool 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include an end tool hub 106 and a pitch hub 107 .

[0219] The end tool hub 106 allows the rotation shafts 141 and 142 described below to be inserted therethrough, and can internally accommodate at least a portion of the first jaw 101 and the second jaw 102 axially coupled to the rotation shaft 141. Furthermore, the end tool hub 106 can internally accommodate at least a portion of the pulleys 112 and 122 axially coupled to the rotation shaft 142.

[0220] In addition, one end of the end tool hub 106 may be formed with a pulley 131 for performing the role of an end tool pitch pulley. Figure 7 As shown, pulley 131 is formed as a separate component from the end tool hub 106 so that it can be coupled to the end tool hub 106. Alternatively, although not shown in the figure, pulley 131 can be formed as a one-piece body with the end tool hub 106. That is, one end of the end tool hub 106 is formed into a disk or even a semicircular shape like a pulley, and a groove for winding a wire can be formed on its outer circumference. The wires 303 and 304 are coupled to pulley 131, which functions as an end tool pitch pulley. Pulley 131 can perform a pitching motion while rotating about a rotation axis 143.

[0221] The pitch hub 107 has a rotation shaft 143 and a rotation shaft 144, which will be described later, inserted therethrough, and can be axially coupled to the end tool hub 106 and the pulley 131 via the rotation shaft 143. Therefore, the end tool hub 106 and the pulley 131 (coupled thereto) can be formed to rotate relative to the pitch hub 107 about the rotation shaft 143.

[0222] Furthermore, the pitch hub 107 may internally house at least a portion of the pulleys 113, 114, 123, and 124 axially coupled to the rotation shaft 143. Furthermore, the pitch hub 107 may internally house at least a portion of the pulleys 115, 116, 125, and 126 axially coupled to the rotation shaft 144.

[0223] In addition, the end tool 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a rotation shaft 141, a rotation shaft 142, a rotation shaft 143, and a rotation shaft 144. As described above, the rotation shafts 141 and 142 may be inserted through the end tool hub 106, and the rotation shafts 143 and 144 may be inserted through the pitch hub 107.

[0224] The rotation axis 141, the rotation axis 142, the rotation axis 143, and the rotation axis 144 can be arranged in sequence along the direction from the distal end 104 to the proximal end 105 of the end tool 100. Therefore, the rotation axis 141 can be referred to as pin No. 1, the rotation axis 142 as pin No. 2, the rotation axis 143 as pin No. 3, and the rotation axis 144 as pin No. 4, starting from the distal end 104.

[0225] Among them, the rotation axis 141 can be used as the terminal tool clamping pulley rotation axis, and the rotation axis 142 can be used as the terminal tool clamping auxiliary pulley rotation axis, and the rotation axis 143 can be used as the terminal tool pitch rotation axis, and the rotation axis 144 can be used as the terminal tool pitch auxiliary rotation axis of the terminal tool 100.

[0226] One or more pulleys may be inserted into the rotating shafts 141 , 142 , 143 , and 144 , which will be described in detail below.

[0227] The pulley 111 serves as a first end tool clamp pulley, and the pulley 121 serves as a second end tool clamp pulley, and these two components may be collectively referred to as end tool clamp pulleys.

[0228] Pulleys 111 and 121, which serve as end tool clamp pulleys, are formed facing each other and can be independently rotated about a rotation axis 141, which serves as the end tool clamp pulley's rotation axis. In the figures, pulleys 111 and 121 are configured to rotate about a single rotation axis 141; however, each clamp pulley can be configured to rotate about a separate axis. A first jaw 101 is fixedly coupled to pulley 111 so as to rotate together with it, and a second jaw 102 is fixedly coupled to pulley 121 so as to rotate together with it. The deflection and actuation of the end tool 100 are performed based on the rotation of pulleys 111 and 121. That is, when the pulleys 111 and 121 rotate in the same direction about the rotation axis 141 , a yaw action is performed, and when the pulleys 111 and 121 rotate in opposite directions about the rotation axis 141 , an actuation action is performed.

[0229] The first jaw 101 and the pulley 111 may be formed as separate components and coupled to each other, or they may be formed as one body. Similarly, the second jaw 102 and the pulley 121 may be formed as separate components and coupled to each other, or they may be formed as one body.

[0230] The pulley 112 serves as an end tool first clamping auxiliary pulley, and the pulley 122 serves as an end tool second clamping auxiliary pulley. These two components may also be collectively referred to as end tool clamping auxiliary pulleys.

[0231] Specifically, pulleys 112 and 122, which serve as auxiliary pulleys for clamping the end tool, can be additionally provided on either side of pulleys 111 and 121. In other words, pulley 112, serving as an auxiliary pulley, can be positioned between pulley 111 and pulleys 113 / 114. Furthermore, pulley 122, serving as an auxiliary pulley, can be positioned between pulley 121 and pulleys 123 / 124. Pulleys 112 and 122 can be configured to rotate independently of each other about a rotation axis 142. While pulleys 112 and 122 are shown in the drawings as rotating about a single rotation axis 142, they can, of course, be configured to rotate about separate axes. These auxiliary pulleys will be described in more detail later.

[0232] Pulleys 113 and 114 serve as the end tool first clamp pitch main pulleys, and pulleys 123 and 124 serve as the end tool second clamp pitch main pulleys. These two components may also be collectively referred to as end tool clamp pitch main pulleys.

[0233] The pulleys 115 and 116 serve as the end tool first clamp pitch sub pulleys, and the pulleys 125 and 126 serve as the end tool second clamp pitch sub pulleys. These two components may also be collectively referred to as the end tool clamp pitch sub pulleys.

[0234] Hereinafter, constituent elements related to the rotation of the pulley 111 will be described.

[0235] Pulleys 113 and 114 serve as the primary pulleys for the first jaw pitching of the end tool. Specifically, they serve as the primary rotation pulleys for the pitching movement of first jaw 101. Wire 301, serving as the first jaw wire, is wound around pulley 113, while wire 305, serving as the second jaw wire, is wound around pulley 114.

[0236] Pulleys 115 and 116 serve as the end tool's first jaw secondary pulleys. Specifically, they serve as secondary rotation pulleys for the pitching motion of first jaw 101. Wire 301, serving as the first jaw wire, is wound around pulley 115, while wire 305, serving as the second jaw wire, is wound around pulley 116.

[0237] Pulley 113 and pulley 114 are disposed on one side of pulley 111 and pulley 112 facing each other. Pulley 113 and pulley 114 can be formed to rotate independently of each other with rotation axis 143, which is the pitch rotation axis of the terminal tool, as the center. In addition, pulley 115 and pulley 116 are disposed on one side of each pulley 113 and pulley 114 facing each other. Pulley 115 and pulley 116 can be formed to rotate independently of each other with rotation axis 144, which is the auxiliary pitch rotation axis of the terminal tool, as the center. In the accompanying drawings, pulley 113, pulley 115, pulley 114, and pulley 116 are shown as being formed to rotate with the Y-axis direction as the center. However, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the rotation axis of each pulley can be formed in various directions to suit its configuration.

[0238] Wire 301, serving as the first clamp wire, is sequentially wound around pulley 115, pulley 113, and pulley 111, with at least a portion thereof in contact with these wires. Furthermore, wire 305, connected to wire 301 via fastening member 323, is sequentially wound around pulley 111, pulley 112, pulley 114, and pulley 116, with at least a portion thereof in contact with these wires.

[0239] To explain from another perspective, wire 301 and wire 305, which serve as the first clamp wire, are wound around pulley 115, pulley 113, pulley 111, pulley 112, pulley 114, and pulley 116 in sequence so that at least a portion of them contacts them, and wire 301 and wire 305 are formed so as to be able to move with the pulleys while rotating the pulleys.

[0240] Therefore, when the wire 301 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B When the arrow 301 is drawn, the fastening member (not shown) combined with the wire 301 and the pulley 111 combined with the fastening member move along Figures 9A to 9B In contrast, when the wire 305 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B When the arrow 305 is drawn, the fastening member (not shown) coupled to the wire 305 and the pulley 111 coupled to the fastening member move along Figures 9A to 9B Rotate in the direction of arrow R.

[0241] Hereinafter, the pulley 112 and the pulley 122 functioning as auxiliary pulleys will be described in more detail.

[0242] Pulleys 112 and 122 contact wire 305 serving as the first jaw wire and wire 302 serving as the second jaw wire to change the arrangement paths of wire 305 and wire 302 to a certain extent, thereby increasing the rotation angles of first jaw 101 and second jaw 102 .

[0243] That is, when the auxiliary pulley is not configured, the first clamp and the second clamp can only rotate at a right angle. However, in one embodiment of the present invention, by additionally providing the pulley 112 and the pulley 122 as auxiliary pulleys, the following can be obtained: Figures 9A to 9B The maximum rotation angle is increased by θ. This allows the two jaws of the end tool 100 to be deflected together by 90° along the L direction, and the two jaws need to be separated for the actuation action. This is because the second jaw 102 can be Figures 9A to 9B Similarly, the two jaws can also be actuated while being deflected and rotated in the direction R. In other words, the pulleys 112 and 122 provide a feature that can expand the deflection and rotation range within which actuation can be achieved.

[0244] A more specific description thereof is as follows.

[0245] Without the auxiliary pulleys, the first jaw wire is fixedly coupled to the first end tool jaw pulley, and the second jaw wire is fixedly coupled to the second end tool jaw pulley. Therefore, the first and second end tool jaw pulleys can only rotate up to 90°. In this case, when the first and second jaws are actuated with the first jaw positioned at 90°, the first jaw can open, but the second jaw cannot rotate beyond 90°. Consequently, when the first and second jaws are deflected beyond a certain angle, they cannot be actuated smoothly.

[0246] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention, pulleys 112 and 122 as auxiliary pulleys are additionally provided on one side of the pulleys 111 and 121. By providing the pulleys 112 and 122 in this manner, the arrangement paths of the wire 305 as the first jaw wire and the wire 302 as the second jaw wire are changed to a certain extent, thereby changing the tangential directions of the wires 305 and 302, thereby enabling the fastening member 326 for connecting the wire 302 and the pulley 121 to rotate to Figures 9A to 9B That is, the fastening member 326, which serves as the junction between the wire 302 and the pulley 121, can be rotated until it is located on the internal work tangent line of the pulleys 121 and 122. Similarly, the fastening member 323, which serves as the junction between the wire 305 and the pulley 111, can be rotated until it is located on the internal work tangent line of the pulleys 111 and 112, thereby expanding its rotation range in the L direction.

[0247] In other words, the two wires 301 and 305 serving as the first clamping wire, which are wound around pulley 111 via pulley 112, are positioned on one side with respect to a plane perpendicular to the Y axis and passing through the X axis. On the other hand, the two wires 302 and 306 serving as the second clamping wire, which are wound around pulley 121 via pulley 122, are positioned on the other side with respect to a plane perpendicular to the Y axis and passing through the X axis.

[0248] In other words, pulleys 113 and 114 are arranged on one side with reference to a plane perpendicular to the Y axis and passing through the X axis, and pulleys 123 and 124 are arranged on the other side with reference to a plane perpendicular to the Y axis and passing through the X axis.

[0249] In other words, wire 305 is located on the inner tangent line of pulley 111 and pulley 112, and the rotation angle of pulley 111 is increased by pulley 112. In addition, wire 302 is located on the inner tangent line of pulley 121 and pulley 122, and the rotation angle of pulley 121 is increased by pulley 122.

[0250] As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, by widening the rotation radius of the jaws 101 and 102 , it is possible to achieve an effect of widening the deflection range in which a normal opening and closing actuation operation can be performed.

[0251] Next, the components related to the rotation of the pulley 121 will be described.

[0252] Pulleys 123 and 124 function as the main pulleys for the second jaw pitching of the end tool. In other words, they function as the main rotation pulleys for the pitching movement of the second jaw 102. Wire 306, which serves as the second jaw wire, is wound around pulley 123, while wire 302, which serves as the second jaw wire, is wound around pulley 124.

[0253] Pulleys 125 and 126 function as the secondary pulleys of the end tool's second jaw. Specifically, they function as secondary rotation pulleys for the pitching motion of second jaw 102. Wire 306, serving as the second jaw wire, is wound around pulley 125, while wire 302, serving as the second jaw wire, is wound around pulley 126.

[0254] Pulley 123 and pulley 124 are arranged on one side of pulley 121 facing each other. Pulley 123 and pulley 124 can be formed to rotate independently of each other around rotation axis 143, which is the pitch rotation axis of the end tool, as the center. In addition, pulley 125 and pulley 126 are respectively arranged on one side of pulley 123 and one side of pulley 124 in a manner facing each other. Pulley 125 and pulley 126 can be formed to rotate independently of each other around rotation axis 144, which is the auxiliary pitch rotation axis of the end tool, as the center. In the drawings, pulleys 123, 125, 124, and 126 are shown as being formed to rotate around the Y-axis direction, but one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the rotation axis of each pulley can be formed in various directions to suit its configuration.

[0255] Wire 306, serving as the second clamp wire, is sequentially wound around pulley 125, pulley 123, and pulley 121, with at least a portion thereof in contact with these. Furthermore, wire 302, connected to wire 306 via fastening member 326, is sequentially wound around pulley 121, pulley 122, pulley 124, and pulley 126, with at least a portion thereof in contact with these.

[0256] To explain from another perspective, wire 306 and wire 302, which serve as the second clamp wire, are wound around pulley 125, pulley 123, pulley 121, pulley 122, pulley 124, and pulley 126 in sequence so that at least a portion of them contacts them, and wire 306 and wire 302 are formed to move with the pulleys while rotating the pulleys.

[0257] Therefore, when the wire 306 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B When the arrow 306 is drawn, the fastening member 326 coupled to the wire 306 and the pulley 121 coupled to the fastening member 326 are moved along Figures 9A to 9B On the contrary, when the wire 302 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B When the arrow 302 is drawn, the fastening member 326 coupled to the wire 302 and the pulley 121 coupled to the fastening member 326 are moved along Figures 9A to 9B Rotate in the direction of arrow L.

[0258] Hereinafter, the pitching motion of the present invention will be described in more detail.

[0259] First, for pitching motion, pulleys 113, 114, 123, and 124, which serve as the end tool clamp pitch main pulleys, are formed on the side close to the end tool 100 so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis 143. Meanwhile, pulleys 115, 116, 125, and 126, which serve as the end tool clamp pitch secondary pulleys, are formed toward the proximal end 105 of the end tool clamp pitch main pulley so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis 144.

[0260] Furthermore, with reference to a plane (i.e., the XY plane) perpendicular to rotation axis 141 and including rotation axis 143, wires 301 and 305, the two strands of the first clamp wire, are located on the same side relative to the XY plane. Specifically, wires 301 and 305 are formed so as to pass through the undersides of pulleys 113 and 114, which serve as the tool end clamp pitch primary pulleys, and the upper sides of pulleys 115 and 116, which serve as the tool end clamp pitch secondary pulleys.

[0261] Similarly, the two wires of the second clamp wire, wire 302 and wire 306, are located on the same side relative to the XY plane. Specifically, wire 302 and wire 306 are formed so as to pass through the upper sides of pulleys 123 and 124, which serve as the primary pulleys for the end tool clamp pitch, and the lower sides of pulleys 125 and 126, which serve as the secondary pulleys for the end tool clamp pitch.

[0262] Furthermore, for the wire 301 and the wire 305, which are two strands of the first clamp wire, when the wire 301 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B Arrow 301, while the wire 305 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B When the arrow 305 is drawn (i.e., when the two strands of the first clamping wire are pulled in the same direction), Figure 7 As shown, since wires 301 and 305 are wound beneath pulleys 113 and 114, which are rotatable about axis 143, the end tool's pitch axis, pulley 111, to which wires 301 and 305 are fixedly coupled, and end tool hub 106, to which pulley 111 is coupled, rotate counterclockwise about axis 143 as a whole, causing end tool 100 to rotate downward while simultaneously performing a pitch motion. At this time, since second jaw 102 and wires 302 and 306 fixedly coupled thereto are wound above pulleys 123 and 124, which are rotatable about axis 143, wires 302 and 306 are released in directions opposite to those indicated by arrows 302 and 306, respectively.

[0263] On the contrary, for the wire 302 and the wire 306 which are two strands of the second clamp wire, when the wire 302 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9BArrow 302, while the wire 306 is pulled toward Figures 9A to 9B When the arrow 306 is drawn (i.e., when the two strands of the second clamping wire are pulled in the same direction), Figure 7 As shown, since wires 302 and 306 are wound around pulleys 123 and 124, which are rotatable about axis 143, serving as the end tool's pitch rotation axis, pulley 121, to which wires 302 and 306 are fixedly coupled, and the end tool hub 106, to which pulley 121 is coupled, rotate clockwise as a whole about axis 143. As a result, end tool 100 simultaneously rotates upward and performs a pitch motion. At this time, since first jaw 101 and wires 301 and 305, which are fixedly coupled thereto, are wound around pulleys 113 and 114, which are rotatable about axis 143, wires 302 and 306 move in opposite directions relative to 301 and 305, respectively.

[0264] From another perspective, it can be expressed that when the end tool 100 is pitched and rotated, the two wires of each clamped wire move simultaneously in the same direction.

[0265] On the other hand, the end tool 100 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 of the present invention further includes a pulley 131 serving as a pitch pulley for the end tool, the drive unit 200 further includes a pulley 231 serving as a pitch pulley for the drive unit, and the power transmission unit 300 further includes a wire 303 and a wire 304 serving as a pitch wire. Specifically, the pulley 131 of the end tool 100 can rotate about the rotation axis 143 serving as the end tool pitch rotation axis and is integrally formed with the end tool hub 106 (or fixedly coupled to the end tool hub 106). In addition, the wires 303 and 304 can serve to connect the pulley 131 of the end tool 100 and the pulley 231 of the drive unit 200.

[0266] Therefore, when the pulley 231 of the driving part 200 rotates, the rotation of the pulley 231 is transmitted to the pulley 131 of the end tool 100 through the wires 303 and 304, so that the pulley 131 also rotates together, and as a result, the end tool 100 rotates while performing a pitch motion.

[0267] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a multi-joint surgical instrument 30 includes a pulley 131 of a terminal tool 100, a pulley 231 of a driving unit 200, and wires 303 and 304 of a power transmission unit 300 in order to transmit power for pitch movement, so that the driving force of the pitch movement of the driving unit 200 is more perfectly transmitted to the terminal tool 100, thereby improving the reliability of the movement.

[0268] The diameters of pulleys 113, 114, 123, and 124, which serve as the end tool clamp pitch main pulleys, and pulley 131, which serves as the end tool pitch pulley, can be the same or different. In this case, the ratio of the diameter of the end tool clamp pitch main pulley to the diameter of the end tool pitch pulley can be the same as the ratio of the diameter of the drive unit intermediate pulley to the diameter of the drive unit pitch pulley of the drive unit 200, which will be described later. This will be described in detail later.

[0269] In the following, we will Figure 6 The driving unit 200 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 will be described in more detail.

[0270] Reference Figures 10 to 16 The driving unit 200 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include pulleys 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, and 220 associated with the rotational movement of the first jaw 101. Furthermore, the driving unit 200 may include pulleys 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, and 230 associated with the rotational movement of the second jaw 102.

[0271] In the drawings, the facing pulleys are shown to be formed in parallel with each other, but an embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and each pulley can be formed in various positions and sizes suitable for the structure of the driving part.

[0272] In addition, the driving unit 200 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include: a pulley 231 used as a driving unit pitch pulley; and a pitch-yaw connector 232 for connecting the pulley 231 and the driving unit clamp pulley.

[0273] In addition, the drive unit 200 of one embodiment of the present invention may include a rotation axis 241, a rotation axis 242, a rotation axis 243, a rotation axis 244, a rotation axis 245, and a rotation axis 246. Among them, the rotation axis 241 can function as the first jaw rotation axis of the drive unit, and the rotation axis 242 can function as the second jaw rotation axis of the drive unit. Furthermore, the rotation axis 243 can function as the pitch rotation axis of the drive unit, and the rotation axis 244 can function as the roll rotation axis of the drive unit. Furthermore, the rotation axis 245 can function as the first jaw auxiliary rotation axis of the drive unit, and the rotation axis 246 can function as the second jaw auxiliary rotation axis of the drive unit. These rotation axes 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, and 246 can be equipped with one or more pulleys, which will be described in detail below.

[0274] In addition, the drive unit 200 of one embodiment of the present invention may include a motor coupling 251, a motor coupling 252, a motor coupling 253, and a motor coupling 254. Motor coupling 251 may function as a first jaw drive motor coupling, motor coupling 252 may function as a second jaw drive motor coupling, motor coupling 253 may function as a pitch drive motor coupling, and motor coupling 254 may function as a roll drive motor coupling. Each of motor couplings 251, 252, 253, and 254 may be formed in the form of a rotatable flat plate and may have coupling holes for coupling to one or more power supply units (not shown).

[0275] The motor coupling parts 251 , 252 , 253 , and 254 of the driving unit 200 are coupled to motors (not shown) formed in the robot arm units 21 , 22 , and 23 , so that the driving unit 200 is driven by the motors (not shown) to operate.

[0276] In addition, the driving unit 200 of one embodiment of the present invention may include gears 261, 262, 263, and 264. Gears 261 and 262 may function as pitch driving gears, and gears 263 and 264 may function as roll driving gears.

[0277] Hereinafter, each constituent element will be described in more detail.

[0278] The pulleys 211 and 212 function as drive portion first clamp pulleys, and the pulleys 221 and 222 function as drive portion second clamp pulleys, and these components may also be collectively referred to as drive portion clamp pulleys.

[0279] The accompanying drawings illustrate that pulley 211 is associated with the rotational motion of the first jaw 101 of the end tool 100, and pulley 221 is associated with the rotational motion of the second jaw 102 of the end tool 100, but one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a group of pulleys in the drive unit may be associated with a yaw motion, and a group of pulleys may also be associated with an actuation motion. Therefore, pulley 211 and pulley 212 may be collectively referred to as drive pulleys of the drive unit. Furthermore, hereinafter, other pulleys may also be a group of pulleys associated with a yaw motion, and a group of pulleys associated with an actuation motion.

[0280] The pulleys 213 and 214 function as driving portion first clamp auxiliary pulleys, and the pulleys 223 and 224 function as driving portion second clamp auxiliary pulleys, and these components may also be collectively referred to as driving portion clamp auxiliary pulleys.

[0281] Pulleys 215 and 216 serve as the first intermediate pulley of the first clamp of the drive unit, while pulleys 217 and 218 serve as the second intermediate pulley of the first clamp of the drive unit. These components can also be collectively referred to as the first intermediate pulley of the drive unit. On the other hand, pulleys 225 and 226 serve as the first intermediate pulley of the second clamp of the drive unit, while pulleys 227 and 228 serve as the second intermediate pulley of the second clamp of the drive unit. These components can also be collectively referred to as the second intermediate pulley of the drive unit. On the other hand, pulleys 215, 216, 225, and 226 can also be collectively referred to as the first intermediate pulley of the drive unit, and pulleys 217, 218, 227, and 228 can also be collectively referred to as the second intermediate pulley of the drive unit. Furthermore, the pulley 215 , the pulley 216 , the pulley 217 , the pulley 218 , the pulley 225 , the pulley 226 , the pulley 227 and the pulley 228 may be collectively referred to as intermediate pulleys of the driving unit.

[0282] In the drawings, the intermediate pulleys of each jaw drive unit are shown as a pair of two pulleys, but one embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, pulley 215, serving as the first intermediate pulley of the first jaw drive unit, and pulley 217, serving as the second intermediate pulley of the first jaw drive unit, form a pair, and wire 301 is shown as passing through pulley 215 and pulley 217 in sequence. However, the intermediate pulleys of the first jaw drive unit may also be composed of three or more pulleys instead of just two.

[0283] On the other hand, pulleys 219 and 220 serve as first drive unit clamp satellite pulleys, and pulleys 229 and 230 serve as second drive unit clamp satellite pulleys. These two components can also be collectively referred to as drive unit satellite pulleys.

[0284] A plurality of rotating shafts, including a rotating shaft 241, a rotating shaft 242, a rotating shaft 243, a rotating shaft 244, a rotating shaft 245, and a rotating shaft 246, may be formed on the first surface of the substrate 201. Furthermore, a plurality of intermediate pulleys 202 are formed on the first surface of the substrate 201 to convert the directions of the wires 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, and 306 entering the driving unit 200 through the connecting portion 310 to the pulleys 231.

[0285] In addition, in the substrate 201, the shaft-shaped connecting portion 310 is coupled to the first surface of the substrate 201 and the second surface opposite to the first surface, and a motor coupling portion 251, a motor coupling portion 252, a motor coupling portion 253 and a motor coupling portion 254 for coupling a motor (not shown) for driving a pulley can be formed.

[0286] Each motor coupling portion and the rotating shaft may be directly connected, or may be indirectly connected via gears.

[0287] As an example, motor coupling 251, which serves as a coupling for the first jaw drive motor, is directly coupled to rotation shaft 241, which serves as the first jaw rotation axis of the drive unit. When motor coupling 251, which is coupled to the first jaw drive motor (not shown), rotates, rotation shaft 241, which is directly coupled thereto, can rotate together. Similarly, motor coupling 252, which serves as a coupling for the second jaw drive motor, is directly coupled to rotation shaft 242, which serves as the second jaw rotation axis of the drive unit. When motor coupling 252, which is coupled to the second jaw drive motor (not shown), rotates, rotation shaft 242, which is directly coupled thereto, can rotate together.

[0288] As another example, the motor coupling 253, which serves as the pitch drive motor coupling, and the rotation shaft 243, which serves as the pitch rotation axis of the drive unit, may be arranged to be spaced apart to a certain extent when viewed on a plane perpendicular to the rotation shaft 243. Furthermore, the motor coupling 253 and the rotation shaft 243 may be connected via the gears 261 and 262, which serve as pitch drive gears.

[0289] Likewise, the motor coupling 254, which serves as the rolling drive motor coupling, and the rotation shaft 244, which serves as the rolling rotation axis of the drive unit, may be provided so as to be spaced apart to a certain extent when viewed on a plane perpendicular to the rotation shaft 244. Furthermore, the motor coupling 254 and the rotation shaft 244 may be connected via the gears 263 and 264, which serve as the rolling drive gears.

[0290] As described above, the reason for configuring some motor couplings to be directly connected to the rotating shafts, while others are indirectly connected, is to take into account the coupling position and orientation between the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 and the slave robot 20. Specifically, rotating shafts that are not affected by the coupling position with the slave robot 20 are directly connected to the motor couplings, while rotating shafts that may interfere with the coupling position with the slave robot 20 are indirectly connected to the motor couplings.

[0291] As shown in the accompanying drawings, the motor coupling 251 and the motor coupling 252 are directly connected to the rotating shaft, while the motor coupling 253 and the motor coupling 254 are indirectly connected through gears. However, an embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this, and various configurations can be made depending on the coupling position and direction with the slave robot 20.

[0292] The pulley 211 and the pulley 212 as the first jaw pulley of the driving portion may be coupled to the rotation shaft 241 as the first jaw rotation shaft of the driving portion.

[0293] Furthermore, a rotation axis 245 serving as the first jaw auxiliary rotation axis of the driving unit may be provided in an area adjacent to the rotation axis 241. Pulleys 213 and 214 serving as the first jaw auxiliary pulleys of the driving unit may be coupled to the rotation axis 245. Pulleys 213 and 214 may be formed to be rotatable about the rotation axis 245.

[0294] The drawings show that the first clamping pulley of the driving unit is formed by two pulleys 211 and 212, with one pulley 211 coupled to the wire 301 and the other pulley 212 coupled to the wire 305. However, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the first clamping pulley of the driving unit may also be formed by a single pulley, so that both the wire 301 and the wire 305 are coupled to the single pulley.

[0295] As described above, the rotating shaft 241 is coupled to the first jaw driving motor (not shown) through the motor coupling 251. Therefore, when the first jaw driving motor (not shown) rotates to drive the first jaw 101, the pulley 211 and the pulley 212 serving as the first jaw pulley of the driving part rotate together with the rotating shaft 241 to pull or release the wires 301 and the wire 305 serving as the first jaw wires.

[0296] The pulley 221 and the pulley 222 as the second jaw pulley of the driving portion may be coupled to the rotation shaft 242 as the second jaw rotation shaft of the driving portion.

[0297] Furthermore, a rotation shaft 246 serving as the second jaw auxiliary rotation shaft of the driving unit may be provided in an area adjacent to the rotation shaft 242. Pulleys 223 and 224 serving as the second jaw auxiliary pulleys of the driving unit may be coupled to the rotation shaft 245. Pulleys 223 and 224 may be formed to be rotatable about the rotation shaft 246.

[0298] The drawings show that the second clamping pulley of the driving unit is formed by two pulleys 221 and 222. One pulley 221 is coupled to the wire 302, while the other pulley 222 is coupled to the wire 306. However, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, the second clamping pulley of the driving unit may be formed by a single pulley, so that both the wire 302 and the wire 306 are coupled to the single pulley.

[0299] As described above, the rotating shaft 242 is coupled to the second jaw drive motor (not shown) through the motor coupling 252. Therefore, when the second jaw drive motor (not shown) rotates to drive the second jaw 102, the pulley 221 and the pulley 222 serving as the second jaw pulley of the driving part rotate together with the rotating shaft 242 to pull or release the wires 302 and the wire 306 serving as the second jaw wires.

[0300] The pulley 231 as the driving portion pitch pulley may be coupled to the rotation shaft 243 as the driving portion pitch rotation axis.

[0301] As described above, the rotating shaft 243 is coupled to the pitch drive motor (not shown) via the motor coupling 253. Therefore, when the pitch drive motor (not shown) rotates to perform a pitch action, the pulley 231 serving as the pitch pulley of the driving portion rotates together with the rotating shaft 243 to pull or release the wires 303 and 304 serving as the pitch wires.

[0302] On the other hand, pulleys 215, 216, 217, 218, 225, 226, 227, and 228, which serve as intermediate pulleys of the drive unit, can be formed so as to be inserted through the rotation axis 243 so as to be rotatable about the rotation axis 243. With pulley 231, which serves as the pitch pulley, as a reference, pulleys 215, 216, 217, and 218, which serve as the first clamping intermediate pulleys of the drive unit, can be provided on one surface, while pulleys 225, 226, 227, and 228, which serve as the second clamping intermediate pulleys of the drive unit, can be provided on the other surface, with pulley 231 as a reference.

[0303] Expressed from another perspective, pulleys 225 and 226 serving as the first intermediate pulley of the second clamp of the driving unit, pulleys 227 and 228 serving as the second intermediate pulley of the second clamp of the driving unit, pulley 231 serving as the pitch pulley of the driving unit, pulleys 217 and 218 serving as the second intermediate pulley of the first clamp of the driving unit, and pulleys 215 and 216 serving as the first intermediate pulley of the first clamp of the driving unit can be stacked in sequence on the rotating shaft 243.

[0304] In addition, pitch-yaw connector 232 may be coupled to rotation axis 243. Pitch-yaw connector 232 may be formed so that when pulley 231 rotates, the driving unit pitch pulley rotates around rotation axis 243 by rigidly connecting pulley 231, which serves as the driving unit pitch pulley, and pulleys 219, 220, 229, and 230, which serve as the driving unit satellite pulleys. This will be described in more detail later.

[0305] The pitch-yaw connector 232 may be formed to rotate together with the rotation shaft 243. That is, the pulley 231 and the pitch-yaw connector 232 are coupled to the rotation shaft 243 so as to be able to rotate together with the rotation shaft 243.

[0306] Among them, the pitch-yaw connector 232 can be described as being formed as follows Figure 12The substantially Y-shaped structure shown in FIG. 2 may also be described as having at least two extensions 232a and 232b extending from the center. Furthermore, a first clamping satellite pulley central axis 233 and a second clamping satellite pulley central axis 234 may be formed at the ends of each of these extensions 232a and 232b.

[0307] Furthermore, pulley 219 and pulley 220 serving as the first clamping satellite pulley of the driving unit may be coupled to the first clamping satellite pulley central axis 233 of the driving unit, and pulley 229 and pulley 230 serving as the second clamping satellite pulley of the driving unit may be coupled to the second clamping satellite pulley central axis 234 of the driving unit.

[0308] As a result, when pulley 231, serving as the driving unit pitch pulley, rotates along with rotation axis 243, pulleys 219, 220, 229, and 230, serving as driving unit satellite pulleys, revolve about rotation axis 243. In other words, it can be described as follows: while the central axes 233, 234, and 235 of the first and second driving unit clamping satellite pulleys are spaced a certain distance from rotation axis 243, the central axes 233, 234, and 236 of the first and second driving unit clamping satellite pulleys rotate about rotation axis 243 while maintaining a certain distance from rotation axis 243.

[0309] That is, the driving unit satellite pulleys are formed to be relatively movable with respect to the driving unit intermediate pulley and the rotation shaft 243, so that the relative positions of the driving unit satellite pulleys with respect to the driving unit intermediate pulley and the rotation shaft 243 can be changed. On the other hand, the relative positions of the driving unit pitch pulley and the driving unit intermediate pulley remain constant.

[0310] Furthermore, when pulley 231, serving as the pitch pulley of the drive unit, rotates about rotation axis 243, pulleys 219, 220, 229, and 230, serving as satellite pulleys of the drive unit, move relative to pulley 231, serving as the pitch pulley of the drive unit, thereby changing the total length of wires 301, 302, 305, and 306, serving as clamping wires, within drive unit 200.

[0311] When one end of the wire 301 serving as the first clamp wire is coupled to the pulley 211 via a first clamp wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown), it is sequentially wound around the pulleys 211, 213, 215, 219, and 217 so that at least a portion is in contact therewith, and then connected to the terminal tool 100 via the connecting portion 310.

[0312] Expressed from another perspective, the wire 301 serving as the first clamp wire passes through the first clamp pulley 211 of the driving unit, the first clamp auxiliary pulley 213 of the driving unit, the first intermediate pulley 215 of the driving unit, the first clamp satellite pulley 219 of the driving unit, and the second intermediate pulley 217 of the driving unit in sequence, and is then connected to the terminal tool 100 via the connecting part 310.

[0313] Expressed from another perspective, the wire 301 serving as the first clamping wire passes through the terminal tool 100 and the connecting part 310 and enters the driving part 200, and is then wound around the pulley 217, the pulley 219, the pulley 215, and the pulley 213 in sequence, and is then fixedly coupled to the pulley 211 serving as the first clamping pulley of the driving part.

[0314] On the other hand, when one end of the wire 305 serving as the first clamp wire is connected to the pulley 212 through the first clamp wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown), it is wound around the pulley 212, the pulley 214, the pulley 216, the pulley 220 and the pulley 218 in sequence so that at least a portion is in contact with them, and then connected to the terminal tool 100 via the connecting portion 310.

[0315] When one end of the wire 302 serving as the second clamp wire is connected to the pulley 221 through the second clamp wire-drive unit fastening component (not shown), it is wound around the pulley 221, pulley 223, pulley 225, pulley 229 and pulley 227 in sequence so that at least a portion is in contact with them, and then connected to the terminal tool 100 via the connecting part 310.

[0316] On the other hand, when one end of the wire 306 serving as the second clamp wire is connected to the pulley 222 through the second clamp wire-drive unit fastening member (not shown), it is wound around the pulley 222, the pulley 224, the pulley 226, the pulley 230 and the pulley 228 in sequence so that at least a portion is in contact with them, and then connected to the terminal tool 100 via the connecting portion 310.

[0317] 17A to 18C It shows Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the pitching motion of a multi-joint surgical instrument. Figure 17A and Figure 18A Only the pulleys and wires associated with the rotation of the first jaw are shown. Figure 17B and Figure 18B Only the pulleys and wires related to the rotation of the second jaw are shown. Figure 17C and Figure 18C FIG. 3 shows the pitching motion of the end tool according to the pitching motion of the driving unit.

[0318] Among other things, the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that when the driving unit satellite pulleys move relative to the driving unit intermediate pulley, the total length of the clamp wires in the driving unit 200 changes, thereby performing a pitching motion of the end tool 100. In particular, the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that when the driving unit pitch pulley rotates, the driving unit satellite pulleys revolve about the (common) rotation axis of the driving unit intermediate pulley and the driving unit pitch pulley, thereby changing the path length of the clamp wires wound around the driving unit intermediate pulley, thereby performing a pitching motion of the end tool.

[0319] Specifically, if the driving unit does not perform separate motion compensation for the pitch motion, the pitch motion itself cannot be performed in the end tool.

[0320] On the other hand, in order to perform a pitching motion in the end tool, wires 301 and 305 need to be wound around pulley 113 by an additional ΔSpitch, and wires 302 and 306 need to be released from pulley 114 by an additional ΔSpitch. However, if the drive unit does not perform the compensation described above, the end tool cannot perform a pitching motion at all.

[0321] As described above, in order to compensate for the pitch movement, the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the driving part's satellite pulley rotates while the driving part's pitch pulley rotates, so that the clamping wire is wound around the driving part's intermediate pulley or released from the driving part's intermediate pulley, thereby compensating for the movement of the clamping wire caused by the rotation of the driving part's pitch pulley.

[0322] In other words, when pulley 231, serving as the drive unit pitch pulley, rotates along with rotation axis 243, the drive unit satellite pulleys orbit about rotation axis 243. Furthermore, as the drive unit satellite pulleys orbit about rotation axis 243, the length of the clamp wire wound around the drive unit intermediate pulley changes. Specifically, the clamp wire wound on the end tool 100 side by the rotation of pulley 231 is loosened by the same length on the drive unit 200 side, while the clamp wire loosened by the end tool 100 side is wound by the same length on the drive unit 200 side. This prevents pitching from affecting yawing.

[0323] Expressing this from another perspective, when the end tool performs a pitch motion by rotating the drive unit pitch pulley, the clamp wire (responsible for the yaw and actuation motion) also moves with the pitch motion. Specifically, as the end tool 100 performs a pitch rotation about the rotation axis 143, the two wire strands of the clamp wire attached to one jaw are pulled, and the two wire strands attached to the other jaw are released. Therefore, it can also be described as follows: to compensate for this movement of the clamp wires, the present invention changes the total length of the clamp wires in the drive unit as the drive unit satellite pulleys move relative to the drive unit intermediate pulley when the end tool performs a pitch motion. This allows the clamp wires to be pulled (or released) on the end tool side while being released (or pulled) by the same length on the drive unit side, thereby compensating for the movement of the clamp wires when the end tool performs a pitch motion.

[0324] Hereinafter, the pitching action will be described in more detail.

[0325] For pitching operation, when the pulley 231 as the driving part pitch pulley rotates in the direction of arrow A1 (ie, clockwise in the drawing), the pitch-yaw connector (see Figure 10 232) rotates together with the pulley 231 in the direction of arrow A1, thereby being fixedly coupled to the pitch-yaw connector (refer to Figure 10 The pulley 219 and the pulley 220 of the satellite pulley of the driving part 232) are rotated as a whole with the rotation axis 243 as the center. Figure 18A The A2 direction (ie, clockwise direction in the drawing) of the pulley 231 is rotated by θ. That is, when the pulley 231 rotates, the pulley 219 and the pulley 220 rotate from Figure 17A P1 in the orbit θ to Figure 18A Another way to express this is that when the drive unit pitch pulley rotates, the drive unit satellite pulley moves in conjunction with the drive unit pitch pulley.

[0326] On the other hand, when the pulley 231 serving as the driving portion pitch pulley rotates in the direction of arrow A1 (ie, clockwise in the drawing), the pitch-yaw connector (see FIG. Figure 10 232) rotates together with the pulley 231 in the direction of arrow A1, thereby being fixedly coupled to the pitch-yaw connector (refer to Figure 10 The pulley 229 and the pulley 230 of the satellite pulley of the driving part 232 are rotated as a whole with the rotation axis 243 as the center. Figure 18B The A3 direction (ie, clockwise direction in the drawing) of the pulley 231 is rotated by θ. That is, when the pulley 231 rotates, the pulley 229 and the pulley 230 rotate from Figure 17B P3 in the orbit θ to Figure 18B From another perspective, this can also be described as follows: when the driving unit pitch pulley rotates, the driving unit satellite pulley moves in conjunction with the driving unit pitch pulley.

[0327] Meanwhile, at this time, the positions of pulleys 215, 216, 217, 218, 225, 226, 227, and 228, which serve as the intermediate drive pulleys coupled to rotating shaft 243, remain unchanged. Specifically, the relative positions of pulley 211, which serves as the clamp pulley for the drive unit; pulley 231, which serves as the pitch pulley for the drive unit; and pulleys 215, 216, 217, and 218, which serve as the intermediate drive pulleys, remain constant. Similarly, the relative positions of pulley 221, which serves as the clamp pulley for the drive unit; pulley 231, which serves as the pitch pulley for the drive unit; and pulleys 225, 226, 227, and 228, which serve as the intermediate drive pulleys, remain constant.

[0328] Furthermore, as described above, as the drive unit satellite pulleys orbit, their relative positions relative to the drive unit intermediate pulleys change, and accordingly, the length of each wire wound around the drive unit intermediate pulleys, i.e., the path length, changes. The drive unit intermediate pulleys include pulley 215, which serves as the first intermediate pulley of the drive unit's first clamp, and pulley 217, which serves as the second intermediate pulley of the drive unit's first clamp. Therefore, the path length also refers to the sum of the length of wire 301 wound around pulley 215 and the length of wire 301 wound around pulley 217 (or the length of wire 305 wound around pulley 216 and the length of wire 305 wound around pulley 218).

[0329] That is, with Figure 17A Compared with the path length L1 of the wire 301 and the wire 305 as the first clamp wire wound on the intermediate pulley of the driving part, Figure 18A As the path length L2 of the first jaw wire wound around the intermediate pulley of the drive unit becomes shorter, the first jaw wire (L1-L2) is loosened on the drive unit 200 side. This loosening is the length (L1-L2) of the shortened path length. In other words, the total length of wire 301 and wire 305, which serve as the first jaw wires, in the drive unit 200 becomes shorter. Furthermore, as the total length of the first jaw wires in the drive unit 200 shortens and the first jaw wires are loosened, the total length of the first jaw wires in the end tool 100 increases.

[0330] On the other hand, when the pulley 231 as the driving part pitch pulley rotates in the direction of arrow A1, Figure 17B Compared with the path length L3 of the wire 302 and the wire 306 as the second clamp wire wound on the intermediate pulley of the driving part, Figure 18B The path length L4 of the second jaw wire wound around the intermediate pulley of the drive unit becomes longer. The second jaw wire is pulled on the drive unit 200 side by the length of the increased path length (L4 - L3). In other words, the total length of the second jaw wires, wires 302 and 306, within the drive unit 200 increases. Furthermore, as the total length of the second jaw wires within the drive unit 200 increases while the second jaw wires are pulled, the total length of the second jaw wires within the end tool 100 decreases, as described above.

[0331] As described above, when pulley 231, serving as the drive unit pitch pulley, rotates in the direction of arrow A1 for pitching, the drive unit satellite pulleys move relative to the drive unit pitch pulley and the drive unit intermediate pulley, changing their relative position. Furthermore, this relative movement of the drive unit satellite pulleys shortens the total length of the first clamp wires in the drive unit 200, while lengthening the total length of the first clamp wires in the end tool 100. Conversely, this relative movement of the drive unit satellite pulleys lengthens the total length of the second clamp wires in the drive unit 200, while shortening the total length of the second clamp wires in the end tool 100.

[0332] As a result, when viewed from the side of the terminal tool 100, if the pulley 231 serving as the pitch pulley of the driving part rotates in the direction of arrow A1, the wires 301 and 305 serving as the two strands of the first clamping wire are loosened, and the wires 302 and 306 serving as the two strands of the second clamping wire are pulled, causing the terminal tool 100 to perform a pitch motion in the direction of arrow A4 with the rotation axis 143 as the center.

[0333] The path length can be defined as the length of the clamping wire from its entry point at the first intermediate pulley of the drive unit, passing through the satellite pulleys, to its exit point at the second intermediate pulley of the drive unit. Specifically, the path length is defined as the length of the clamping wire from the point where wire 301 (the clamping wire) enters pulley 215 (the first intermediate pulley of the drive unit), passes through pulley 219 (the satellite pulley of the drive unit), to its exit point at pulley 217 (the second intermediate pulley of the drive unit).

[0334] Expressing this from another perspective, the path length can be defined as the length of the clamp wire, along the path connecting the end tool clamp pulley and the drive unit clamp pulley, from the point where the clamp wire first contacts the drive unit intermediate pulley to the point where the clamp wire last contacts the drive unit intermediate pulley. Specifically, the path length can be defined as the length of the clamp wire from the point where wire 301, acting as the clamp wire, first contacts pulley 215, acting as the first intermediate pulley of the drive unit, to the point where it last contacts pulley 217, acting as the second intermediate pulley of the drive unit.

[0335] On the other hand, as the drive unit satellite pulleys move relative to the drive unit intermediate pulleys, the aforementioned path length changes, and the total length of the clamp wires in the drive unit 200 also changes. Furthermore, as the total length of the clamp wires in the drive unit 200 changes, the total length of the clamp wires in the end tool 100 also changes. However, as the total length of the clamp wires in the drive unit 200 increases (or decreases), the total length of the clamp wires in the end tool 100 also decreases (or increases) by the same amount, so the total length of the clamp wires does not change (assuming elastic deformation, etc., is not taken into account).

[0336] As a result, when the pitch pulley of the driving unit rotates, as the wire 301 / wire 305 serving as the first clamp wire on the end tool 100 side is pulled, the wire 301 / wire 305 serving as the first clamp wire on the driving unit 200 side is loosened by the same length, resulting in pitch movement.

[0337] On the other hand, as described above, the terminal tool 100 of the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 of the present invention also includes a pulley 131 serving as a pitch pulley of the terminal tool, the driving unit 200 also includes a pulley 231 serving as a pitch pulley of the driving unit, and the power transmission unit 300 may also include a wire 303 and a wire 304 serving as a pitch wire.

[0338] Therefore, when pulley 231, which serves as the driving unit pitch pulley, rotates in the direction of arrow A1, the wire 304 is wound around pulley 231 and the wire 303 is unwound from pulley 231 as pulley 231 rotates. As a result, pulley 131, which serves as the end tool pitch pulley and is connected to the opposite side of wires 303 and 304, rotates in the direction of arrow A2 about rotation axis 143, enabling more accurate and reliable pitching operations.

[0339] Among them, among the pulleys rotating around the rotation axis 143 as the pitch rotation axis of the terminal tool, the diameters of the pulley 131 as the terminal tool pitch pulley in contact with the wires 303 and 304 as the pitch wires, and the pulleys 113, 114, 123 and 124 as the terminal tool clamping pitch main pulley in contact with the wires 301, 305, 302 and 306 as the clamping wires can be formed differently from each other.

[0340] In this case, when the rotation shaft 143 rotates, the length of the wire wound around each pulley or the length of the wire released from each pulley differs. For example, if the diameter of the end tool pitch pulley is 6φ and the diameter of the end tool clamp pitch master pulley is 4φ, and the rotation shaft 143 rotates 90°, the length of the pitch wire wound around the end tool pitch pulley may be 1.5π, while the length of the clamp wire wound around the end tool clamp pitch master pulley may be 1π.

[0341] From this perspective, the length of the wire wrapped around the pulley or released from the pulley can be defined as the amount of rotation. This amount of rotation is different from the rotation angle and can be calculated using the formula (diameter * rotation angle / 360° * π).

[0342] In this case, pulley 231, serving as the drive unit pitch pulley, and pulley 131, serving as the end tool pitch pulley, are essentially directly connected via wires 303 and 304, serving as pitch wires. Therefore, the drive unit pitch pulley and the end tool pitch pulley rotate the same amount. In other words, the length of the pitch wire unwound from the end tool pitch pulley or wound around it is the same as the length of the pitch wire wound around the drive unit pitch pulley or unwound from it.

[0343] On the other hand, (diameter of end tool pitch pulley: diameter of end tool clamp pitch main pulley) = (rotation amount of wire wound on end tool pitch pulley: rotation amount of wire wound on end tool clamp pitch main pulley).

[0344] As described above, when the length of the pitch wire wound around the terminal tool pitch pulley in the terminal tool 100 is different from the length of the clamp wire wound around the terminal tool clamp pitch main pulley, the length of the loose pitch wire and the length of the loose clamp wire in the drive unit 200 also need to be different from each other at the same ratio.

[0345] Therefore, the relationship of (diameter of the end tool pitch pulley: diameter of the end tool clamp pitch main pulley) = (diameter of the driving part pitch pulley: diameter of the driving part intermediate pulley) can be established.

[0346] For example, if the ratio of (diameter of the end tool pitch pulley:diameter of the end tool clamp pitch main pulley) is 6:4, the ratio of (diameter of the drive unit pitch pulley:diameter of the drive unit intermediate pulley) can also be 6:4. Based on this ratio, the diameter of the drive unit pitch pulley can be 9φ, and the diameter of the drive unit intermediate pulley can be 6φ.

[0347] However, the driving portion intermediate pulley may include two (or more) pulleys including a first driving portion intermediate pulley and a second driving portion intermediate pulley. In addition, the sum of the diameters of the first driving portion intermediate pulley and the second driving portion intermediate pulley may be defined as the diameter of the driving portion intermediate pulley.

[0348] For example, when the diameter of the intermediate pulley of the driving unit is 6φ, the diameters of the first intermediate pulley of the driving unit and the second intermediate pulley of the driving unit can be (1φ, 5φ), (2φ, 4φ), (3φ, 3φ), (4φ, 2φ), (5φ, 1φ), etc. In the drawings, the diameter of pulley 215, which serves as the first intermediate pulley of the driving unit, is 4φ, and the diameter of pulley 217, which serves as the second intermediate pulley of the driving unit, is 2φ.

[0349] Furthermore, it can be described that (the rotation amount of the first intermediate pulley of the driving section+the rotation amount of the second intermediate pulley of the driving section) is proportional to the rotation amount of the pitch pulley of the driving section.

[0350] However, even if the ratio of (diameter of terminal tool pitch pulley: diameter of terminal tool clamp pitch main pulley) and the ratio of (diameter of drive unit pitch pulley: diameter of drive unit intermediate pulley) are not completely consistent, if the diameters of the pulleys are selected so that their ratios are similar to each other, the purpose of the present invention, that is, compensating for the movement of the clamping wire according to the rotation of the drive unit pitch pulley, can be achieved to a certain extent.

[0351] The final pitching action process will be described again below.

[0352] Hereinafter, the case where the diameter of the end tool pitch pulley is 6φ, the diameter of the end tool clamp pitch main pulley is 4φ, the diameter of the drive unit pitch pulley is 9φ, and the diameter of the drive unit intermediate pulley is 6φ will be described as an example.

[0353] First, for pitching operation, pulley 231 of driving unit 200 rotates 60 degrees to wind wire 304 as pitch wire and release wire 303. At this time, the length of wire 303 / wire 304 wound and released is 1.5π respectively.

[0354] Therefore, in the end tool 100, the wire 304 is pulled by 1.5π, and the wire 303 is loosened by 1.5π, while the pulley 131 serving as the end tool pitch pulley rotates 90° corresponding to 1.5π.

[0355] On the other hand, when pulley 131 pitches about axis 143, jaws 101 and 102 and pulleys 111 and 112 also pitch about axis 143. Consequently, wires 301 and 305, acting as the first clamp wires attached to pulley 111, are pulled, while wires 302 and 306, acting as the second clamp wires attached to pulley 121, are released. At this point, the end tool pitch pulley and the end tool clamp pitch master pulley rotate at the same angle of 90°. Therefore, the length of the clamp wire wound around or released from the end tool clamp pitch master pulley is 1π.

[0356] On the other hand, since pulley 231 and pulley 219 / pulley 220 are rigidly coupled via pitch-yaw connector 232 , when pulley 231 rotates 60° about rotation axis 243 , pulley 219 / pulley 220 revolve 60° about rotation axis 243 .

[0357] As pulleys 219 and 220 revolve in this manner, the clamping wires are wound around pulleys 215 and 216, whose combined diameters are 6φ, or are released from pulleys 215 and 216 by 1π, corresponding to a 60° revolution angle. Specifically, wires 301 and 305, which serve as the first clamping wires, are released as a whole, while wires 302 and 306, which serve as the second clamping wires, are pulled as a whole.

[0358] In other words, the total length of the paths along which wires 301 and 305 are wound around pulleys 215, 216, 217, and 218, which serve as the first clamping intermediate pulleys of the drive unit, is reduced, and this length is reduced by loosening wires 301 and 305. Furthermore, the total length of the paths along which wires 302 and 306 are wound around pulleys 225, 226, 227, and 228, which serve as the second clamping intermediate pulleys of the drive unit, is increased, and this length is increased by pulling wires 302 and 306.

[0359] That is, the wires 301 and 305, which serve as the first clamp wires, are pulled on the side close to the end tool 100 while being loosened on the side close to the drive unit 200, thereby compensating for the movement of the clamp wires due to the pitching operation. Similarly, the wires 302 and 306, which serve as the second clamp wires, are pulled on the side close to the end tool 100 while being loosened on the side close to the drive unit 200, thereby compensating for the movement of the clamp wires due to the pitching operation.

[0360] As a result, according to the pitching action, the clamping wire is wound (or loosened) on the side close to the terminal tool 100, and the clamping wire is loosened (or pulled) on the side close to the driving part 200, and the loosened (or pulled) length is the same as the wound (or loosened) length on the side close to the terminal tool 100, thereby avoiding the pitching action from affecting the rotation of the yaw axis direction of the clamp and independently performing the pitching action.

[0361] Specifically, when the drive unit pitch pulley and the drive unit satellite pulley are rigidly connected, causing the drive unit pitch pulley to rotate about rotation axis 243, the drive unit satellite pulley simultaneously revolves about rotation axis 243, changing the path length of the clamp wire wound around the drive unit intermediate pulley. This change in the clamp wire path length compensates for movement of the clamp wire on the end tool side associated with the pitch operation, resulting in independent pitch operation.

[0362] 19A to 20B It shows Figure 6 Diagram showing the deflection motion of a multi-joint surgical instrument.

[0363] Reference Figure 15 、 Figure 16 、 19A to 20B When pulley 211, which serves as the first jaw pulley of the driving unit, rotates in the direction of arrow A3 for a deflection operation, the wires 301 and 305, which serve as the first jaw wires, are wound around pulley 211 on one side and unwound from pulley 211 on the other side as pulley 211 rotates. Consequently, pulley 111, which serves as the first jaw pulley of the end tool and is connected to the opposite side of the wires 301 and 305, rotates in the direction of arrow A4, thereby performing a deflection operation.

[0364] At this time, the positions of pulleys 219, 220, 229 and 230, which serve as satellite pulleys of the driving unit, and pulleys 215, 216, 217, 218, 225, 226, 227 and 228, which serve as intermediate pulleys of the driving unit, do not change, and only the wires 301 and 305 are wound around or released from the satellite pulleys and the intermediate pulley of the driving unit.

[0365] Therefore, the driving portion pitch pulley rigidly connected to the driving portion satellite pulley does not rotate, and the wires 303 and 304 serving as the pitch wires do not become tangled or loosened but maintain their positions.

[0366] Similarly, when pulley 221, which serves as the second jaw pulley of the driving unit, rotates for a deflection operation, one side of the wires 302 and 306, which serve as the second jaw wires, are wound around pulley 221, while the other side is unwound from pulley 221 as pulley 221 rotates. Consequently, pulley 121, which serves as the second jaw pulley of the end tool and is connected to the opposite side of the wires 302 and 306, rotates in a certain direction, thereby performing a deflection operation.

[0367] At this time, the positions of pulleys 219, 220, 229 and 230, which serve as satellite pulleys of the driving unit, and pulleys 215, 216, 217, 218, 225, 226, 227 and 228, which serve as intermediate pulleys of the driving unit, do not change, and only the wires 302 and 306 are wound around or released from the satellite pulleys and the intermediate pulley of the driving unit.

[0368] Therefore, the driving portion pitch pulley rigidly connected to the driving portion satellite pulley does not rotate, and the wires 303 and 304 serving as the pitch wires do not become tangled or loosened but maintain their positions.

[0369] As a result, even if the pulley 211 or the pulley 221 as the driving portion clamp pulley rotates for a yaw operation or an actuation operation, the total length of the wires 301, 302, 305, and 306 as the clamp wires in the driving portion 200 remains constant.

[0370] As described above, in the multi-joint surgical instrument 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention, when the pitch pulley of the driving part rotates, the satellite pulley of the driving part revolves around the rotation axis of the pitch pulley of the driving part, while changing the path length of the clamping wire wound on the intermediate pulley of the driving part, so that the clamping wire is wound or loosened in response to the rotation of the pitch pulley of the driving part, thereby offsetting or compensating for the movement of the clamping wire according to the pitch drive. As a result, the effect of separating the pitch action and the deflection action can be obtained.

[0371] However, as described above, the pitching action and the yawing action are not limited to being separated mechanically, but according to an embodiment, they are independently separated by the processor of the present invention, so that the pitching action and the yawing action can be performed separately.

[0372] Figure 25 The flowchart is a schematic diagram of a method for driving a surgical device according to one embodiment of the disclosure.

[0373] See Figure 25 , a method of driving a surgical device may include Figure 1 and Figure 2AThe steps are processed in time series on the user terminal 2000, 2010 or the processor 2011 shown in FIG. Therefore, even if the following contents are omitted, Figure 1 and Figure 2A The above description of the user terminal 2000, 2010 or the processor 2011 may also be applied to Figure 25 Method for driving a surgical device.

[0374] In addition, see above Figure 1 and Figure 2B As stated, Figure 25 At least one step in the method of driving a surgical device may also be processed on the server 3000 or the processor 3011 .

[0375] In addition, see above Figures 3 to 5 As stated, Figure 25 At least one step in the method of driving a surgical device may be processed by the master robot 10, the slave robot 20, or the multi-joint surgical device 30, or a processor contained therein.

[0376] For ease of description, the method for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be described below as being executed by a computing device. For example, the computing device may be, but is not limited to, the user terminal, server, master robot, slave robot, or multi-jointed surgical device, or a processor contained therein, or a combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that any computing device including a processor and memory may serve as a computing device to execute the method for driving a surgical device according to the present disclosure.

[0377] To drive the surgical device, the computing device first initializes the reference posture information of the user input interaction part when starting to control the surgical device. (Step 2510). Specifically, the reference posture of the user input interaction unit can be updated to the posture information of the user input interaction unit before the first operation of the user input interaction unit. According to one aspect, the surgical device can be controlled based on the degree of change in the user input interaction unit. Therefore, the reference posture of the user input interaction unit, which serves as a reference for determining the degree of change, is initialized before the user operates. Here, the user input interaction unit can be, for example, a joystick equipped on the master robot, but is not limited thereto.

[0378] Here, the posture information may include position and orientation information in a three-dimensional coordinate system, and as a non-limiting example, may be expressed in the form of a Homogeneous transform matrix (T) as a 4x4 matrix as shown in the following mathematical formula 1, but is not limited thereto.

[0379]

Mathematical formula 1

[0380]

[0381] A homogeneous transformation matrix refers to the positional and / or directional change from a physically defined reference coordinate system within the user input interaction component to the coordinate system of the user input interaction component's current posture. It should be understood that posture information does not necessarily need to be represented in the form of a homogeneous transformation matrix; any representation method, such as the Screw method, is also encompassed by the technical concepts of this disclosure.

[0382] like Figure 25 As shown, in order to execute the driving method of the surgical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the computing device may generate operation information based on the amount of change of the reference posture of the user input interaction unit for controlling the surgical device (step 2520). That is, the user may generate operation information by operating the user input interaction unit. The operation information of the user input interaction unit (T MC ) may include reference gesture information from the user input interaction portion To the gesture information of the user input interaction part generated by the user through operation To calculate the change until , for example, an inverse matrix and multiplication operation can be used, as shown in the following mathematical formula 2.

[0383]

Mathematical formula 2

[0384]

[0385] Here, the reference posture information of the user input interaction unit may include information about the posture of the user input interaction unit at a specific moment, while the operation information of the user input interaction unit may include information about the amount of change from the reference posture of the user input interaction unit. However, the reference posture information and the operation information may be expressed in the same form, for example, as a homogeneous transformation matrix. According to one aspect, the reference posture information can be understood as information representing the reference posture of the user input interaction unit by indicating the degree of change from the origin of the coordinate system, while the operation information indicates the degree of change from the reference posture.

[0386] According to one embodiment, the posture information generated by the user input interaction unit can be transmitted to the surgical device. According to another aspect, information about a target posture generated based on the posture information or information about a target state of a drive component, which will be described later, can also be transmitted to the surgical device. That is, the computing device that executes the method for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can be understood as a device distinct from the surgical device or surgical robot, such as a device including a processor of a master robot, or a device including a processor of both the master robot and a processor of the surgical robot.

[0387] See again Figure 25The computing device may determine a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the previously acquired operation information of the user input interaction unit (step 2530). According to one aspect, the computing device may be configured to determine the target posture based on a correspondence between a predetermined movement of the user input interaction unit and a movement of the surgical device.

[0388] As a non-limiting example, as shown in the following mathematical formula 3, the computing device may calculate the value of the operation information (T MC ), the rotation matrix (R MC→SR ), the rotation matrix (R MC→SR0 ), the rotation matrix (R SR→cam ), the current posture of the surgical device At least one of the above generates a target posture of the surgical device (T SR ).

[0389]

Mathematical formula 3

[0390]

[0391] That is, the computing device may use a rotation matrix (R MC→SR ), converting the operation information represented by the reference coordinate system of the user input interaction unit into the reference coordinate system of the surgical device. In addition, the computing device can use the rotation matrix (R MC→SR0 ), reflecting the information of the reference posture of the surgical device. In addition, the computing device can use the rotation matrix (R SR→cam ) to reflect the state of the surgical device in the state captured by the camera, so that the user can more intuitively understand the driving state of the surgical device. In addition, the computing device can be based on the current posture of the surgical device. information, determine the standard of the degree of operation by the operation information, and determine the target posture of the surgical device based on this.

[0392] However, the target posture of the surgical device determined to correspond to the operation information of the user input interaction unit can be freely modified according to the implementation or user settings. For example, the degree to which the surgical device is driven in response to changes in the amount of the user input interaction unit can be set differently depending on whether the user desires more detailed control or immediate control. In the method for driving a surgical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the target posture corresponding to the operation information includes all various implementations determined based on a predetermined correspondence relationship.

[0393] See again Figure 25 , the computing device may determine the target state information for the driving component based on whether the determined target posture of the surgical device exceeds the driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device (step 2540). Here, according to one aspect, at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device may include a joint, in which case the target state information may be a target joint angle. In addition, the driving limit of the driving component may represent a joint limit angle. However, it should be understood that the technical concept of the present disclosure is not limited to the driving of joints, and can also be applied to components that drive any surgical device, including bending-type driving components, sliding-type driving components, and rotating-type driving components. Below, for the sake of convenience of description, the example of the case where the driving component is a joint is mainly described. That is, according to a non-limiting example, the computing device may determine whether at least one joint equipped in the surgical device needs to exceed the joint limit angle to achieve the target posture of the surgical device, and determine the target joint angle of at least one joint equipped in the surgical device based on whether the joint limit angle is exceeded.

[0394] Figure 26 Express Figure 25 More specifically, according to one aspect, in response to determining that a determined target posture exceeds a driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device, the computing device determines, as target state information for the at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device, modified state information in which a driving result of the driving component is constrained within the driving limit.

[0395] like Figure 26As shown, the computing device may attempt to determine target state information within a specific time (step 2541p) to determine whether the target posture exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device. When the drive limit is exceeded, the modified state constrained within the drive limit is determined as the target state information of the drive component. For example, if the target posture exceeds the joint limit angle of at least one joint, the modified joint angle constrained within the joint limit angle may be determined as the target joint angle. Conversely, if the target posture does not exceed the drive limit of at least one drive component, information on the state of the drive component used to achieve the target posture may be determined as the target state information (step 2545p). Therefore, the driving method of the surgical device according to an embodiment of the present invention can solve the problem of interruption of the surgical action due to delay in algorithm calculation time even when the target posture according to the operation information exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component of the surgical device.

[0396] See again Figure 25 The computing device may drive at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device according to the determined target state information (step 2550). Here, in response to determining that the target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the operation information of the user input interaction unit exceeds the drive limit of the at least one drive component equipped in the surgical device, the computing device may update the reference posture of the user input interaction unit using the modified posture information of the user input interaction unit.

[0397] Relatedly, Figure 27 Express Figure 25 The conceptual information processing process of the reference posture initialization process when the driving limit is reached. Figure 27 As shown, the computing device may initialize the reference posture of the user input interaction part as the current state of the user input interaction part based on whether the driving limit is constrained due to exceeding the driving limit. If the constraint occurs, the computing device may initialize the reference posture of the user input interaction part as the current state of the user input interaction part (step 2553).

[0398] For example, when a target posture determined based on an operation of a user input interface unit exceeds the joint angle limit of at least one joint provided in the surgical device, thereby setting a target joint angle within the joint angle limit and controlling the surgical device accordingly, the posture information of the user input interface unit after the user operation can be used to initialize the reference posture information of the user input interface unit. This solves the aforementioned problem of unintuitive control caused by a mismatch between the state of the surgical device and / or the user input interface unit perceived by the user and the unconstrained state relative to the computing device, which can occur when the drive assembly is constrained within the drive limits.

[0399] Below, a non-limiting but more specific description is given as follows Figure 25The step of determining target state information of the drive assembly equipped in the surgical device based on whether the drive limit is exceeded (step 2540). In this regard, Figure 28 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 26 An exemplary detailed flow chart of the target state information determination step is provided. Figure 29 for Figure 28 An exemplary detailed flowchart of the steps for determining drive component difference information.

[0400] like Figure 28 As shown, to determine the target state information of the drive component, the computing device may first determine drive component difference information (step 2541). The drive component difference information may reflect the degree of state change of the drive component required to change the surgical device to the target posture corresponding to the operation information. In other words, it may indicate the degree to which at least one drive component of the surgical device needs to change to achieve the target posture. As a non-limiting example, if the drive component is a joint, the drive component difference information may be joint difference information, which may indicate the angle by which the joint needs to be driven.

[0401] To determine the drive assembly difference information (step 2541), the computing device may initiate an inverse kinematic transformation using the target posture as input. To perform the inverse kinematic transformation, the computing device may obtain the current posture information of the surgical device, calculate the posture difference information, and then perform the drive assembly difference information conversion process.

[0402] More specifically, if Figure 29 As shown, the computing device may first determine the current posture of the surgical device based on information about the current state of the drive assembly (step 2541a). As a non-limiting example, if the drive assembly is a joint, the computing device extracts joint information from the surgical device. Because the joints of the surgical device are equipped with motors and encoders, the position information of each motor is known, and this information can be referred to as joint information. For example, the information about the current state of the drive assembly may include joint information.

[0403] For example, the computing device can use the current joint information of the surgical device through the following mathematical formula 4: and forward kinematics (FK) to determine the current posture information of the surgical device

[0404]

Mathematical formula 4

[0405]

[0406] Then, the computing device may determine posture difference information based on the difference between the target posture and the current posture (step 2541b). That is, the computing device may calculate the posture difference information as the difference between the target posture information and the current posture information of the surgical device. According to one aspect, the target posture information and / or the current posture information may be represented in the form of a homogeneous transformation matrix. In this case, for example, as described in the following mathematical formula 5, the computing device may convert the matrix in the homogeneous transformation matrix form into a screw form (X) (f2()) and then calculate the posture difference information by subtraction.

[0407]

Mathematical formula 5

[0408]

[0409] See again Figure 29 , the computing device can convert the posture difference information into the driving component difference information (step 2541c). For example, as shown in the following mathematical formula 6, to obtain the joint difference information of the surgical device The calculation device may multiply the posture difference information by a Jacobian matrix. Here, the Jacobian matrix is ​​one of the physical quantities representing the kinematic information of the robot, and the "+" operation refers to a pseudo inverse operation.

[0410]

Mathematical formula 6

[0411]

[0412] Through the example process, the computing device may determine drive component difference information (step 2541).

[0413] See again Figure 28 , the computing device may determine the modified state information (step 2543) in which the driving result of the driving component is constrained within the driving limit. For example, if the driving component is a joint, the modified state information may include safe joint information. Here, the safe joint information may include an adjusted angle value that allows the target joint angle to be constrained within the joint limit angle even if the joint angle used to achieve the target posture corresponding to the driving information exceeds the joint limit angle. According to one aspect, the modified state information may be determined as the more the degree to which the target posture exceeds the driving limit increases, the closer the driving result of the driving component is to the driving limit. To this end, the computing device may determine the modified state information based on the driving component difference information, the upward driving limit value of the driving component, the downward driving limit value of the driving component, and the tangent function. Below, a non-restrictive but more specific determination process of the modified state information (e.g., safe joint information) will be described.

[0414] According to one aspect, to address situations where at least one joint of a surgical device exceeds a drive limit during inverse kinematics conversion, a computing device may calculate safe joint information constraining the joint angle, serving as a target for drive, within the joint limit angle. To this end, the computing device may perform the following steps: conversion to a fictitious joint angle (fictivejoint), calculation of a Jacobian linkage function to obtain the fictitious joint angle, calculation of a fictitious compensation angle to maintain the joint limit angle, calculation of a fictitious joint angle reflecting the joint limit angle constraint, and conversion to a joint angle.

[0415] First, in order to constrain the joint angle within the limit value, the computing device may convert the joint angle at the limit value terminal into a fictitious joint angle (z SR ) to become continuous near the limit value. For example, as shown in the following mathematical formula 7, this conversion can use the i-th virtual joint angle

[0416] The i-th current joint angle The upper limit value of the i-th joint angle

[0417] The downward limit of the i-th joint angle implement.

[0418]

Mathematical formula 7

[0419]

[0420] Then, the computing device may determine the virtual joint difference information Obtaining fictitious joint difference information The process for determining the joint difference information is similar to the previously described process. The process up to multiplying the posture difference information by the Jacobian matrix is ​​identical to the joint difference information determination process, but further requires the pseudo-inverse calculation of the Jacobian linkage matrix (dβ). If the total number of joints of the surgical device is n, the Jacobian linkage function can be calculated, for example, using the following equation 8.

[0421]

Mathematical formula 8

[0422]

[0423] Here, each element of the diagonal matrix is ​​expressed by the following mathematical formula 9, using the i-th imaginary joint angle The upper limit value of the i-th joint angle The downward limit of the i-th joint angle Perform calculations.

[0424]

Mathematical formula 9

[0425]

[0426] Then, before calculating the virtual joint difference information, the computing device may calculate a virtual compensation angle (y) so that when the virtual joint exceeds the limit angle, the virtual compensation angle is added to constrain it to the limit value. If the total number of joints of the surgical device is n, the virtual compensation angle is an n-dimensional vector. In this case, the i-th virtual compensation angle (y i ) can be obtained by using the i×i element of the Jacobian linkage matrix through the following mathematical formula 10: The i-th imaginary joint angle The difference angle of the i-th joint Perform calculations.

[0427]

Mathematical formula 10

[0428]

[0429] Here, the constant (γ i ) is calculated using the following mathematical formula 11 using the ε judgment constant (ε1). The ε judgment constant may refer to a reference value used to judge a value sufficiently close to 0 during computer calculations and may be set to any value. In the driving method of the surgical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, it may be set to 1.0 -9 , but not limited to this.

[0430]

Mathematical formula 11

[0431]

[0432] Afterwards, the computing device can calculate the virtual joint difference information reflecting the joint limit angle constraint Here, the fictitious joint difference information can be obtained by using the pseudo-inverse value of the Jacobian linkage matrix through the following mathematical formula 12: Joint difference information Fictitious compensation angle linkage matrix (J c ), and the fictitious compensation angle (y) are calculated.

[0433]

Mathematical formula 12

[0434]

[0435] Here, the imaginary compensation angle linkage matrix (J c ) can be calculated using the following mathematical formula 13.

[0436]

Mathematical formula 13

[0437]

[0438] Each element of the diagonal matrix can be obtained by the following mathematical formula 14, using the i×i element of the Jacobian linkage matrix Calculate with the judgment constant (ε1).

[0439]

Mathematical formula 14

[0440]

[0441] Then, the computing device may determine the safe joint information constrained to the limit value based on the calculated fictitious joint difference information. Secure i-th joint difference information The following mathematical formula 15 can be used to use the i-th virtual joint angle The difference angle of the i-th imaginary joint The upper limit value of the i-th joint angle The downward limit of the i-th joint angle Perform calculations.

[0442]

Mathematical formula 15

[0443]

[0444] Therefore, the computing device may determine modified state information (eg, safe joint information) (step 2543).

[0445] like Figure 28 As shown, after completing the inverse kinematic transformation, the computing device may determine whether the target posture exceeds the driving limit of at least one driving component based on the driving component difference information and the modified state information (step 2545). According to one aspect, the computing device may determine whether the driving limit is exceeded based on whether the difference between the modified driving component difference information and the driving component difference information exceeds a predetermined first threshold. Here, the modified driving component difference information may be determined based on the difference between the modified state information and the information about the current state of the driving component. The first threshold may be, for example, a difference determination constant.

[0446] As a non-limiting example, if the driving component is a joint, the computing device determines whether at least one joint equipped in the surgical device is constrained within the joint limit angle. This determination is made using the secure i-th joint difference information. The difference information of the i-th joint The following mathematical formula 16 of the difference judgment constant (ε2) returns a True value. The safe joint difference information may refer to the difference between the current angle of the target joint and the safe joint angle. The difference judgment constant is a reference value used to judge whether a significant difference occurs during the computer calculation process, and can be set to any value. The larger the value, the higher the joint limit angle constraint judgment standard; the smaller the value, the lower the joint limit angle constraint judgment standard. In the driving method of the surgical device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the difference judgment constant can be set to 1.0, for example. -5 , but not limited to this.

[0447]

Mathematical formula 16

[0448]

[0449] That is, the computing device determines the driving component difference information for achieving the target posture corresponding to the operation information, regardless of whether the driving limit is restricted or not (step 2541), determines the modified state information having a value within the restricted sub-driving limit even when the driving limit is exceeded (step 2543), and then calculates the difference between the state change degree of the driving component according to the driving component difference information and the state change degree of the driving component according to the modified state information. If the value of the difference exceeds a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the driving component has been restricted within the driving limit (step 2545).

[0450] See again Figure 28 , the computing device may determine the target state information (steps 2547 to 2549) using at least one of the state information or the drive component difference information that has been modified based on whether the drive limit is exceeded. For example, in response to determining that the drive limit is exceeded, the computing device may determine the modified state information as the target state information (step 2547), or in response to determining that the drive limit is not exceeded and that the drive component difference information is less than a second threshold, the computing device may add the value of the drive component difference information to the current state information of the drive component as the target state information (step 2549). Therefore, the computing device may repeatedly perform the step of determining the target state information (step 2540) until it is determined that the drive limit is not exceeded or the drive component difference information is less than the second threshold. In this embodiment, the second threshold may be, for example, an ε judgment constant.

[0451] As a non-limiting example, if the driving component is a joint, the computing device may generate a target joint angle after calculating the joint difference information and the safe joint information based on whether the joint is constrained within the limit angle, or may generate a target joint angle after determining the size of the joint difference information.

[0452] For example, if it is determined that the joint constraint is within the limit angle (for example, the result of Mathematical Formula 16 is True), the final target state information, such as the converted joint information, can be converted into Updated for safe joint information

[0453]

Mathematical formula 17

[0454]

[0455] That is, if the joint is constrained within the joint limit angle, the joint difference information having a value that is secure for the angle constrained within the joint limit will eventually be determined as the target joint angle.

[0456] On the contrary, if it is determined that it is not constrained within the restricted angle (the result of mathematical formula 16 is False), the computing device determines the size of the joint difference information. The size of the joint difference information can be determined by the following mathematical formula 18 using the ε judgment constant (ε1) for calculation. The ε judgment constant is a reference value used to judge a value close enough to 0 during computer calculation and can be set to any value. In the driving method of the surgical device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, it can be set to 1.0 -9 , but not limited to this.

[0457]

Mathematical formula 18

[0458]

[0459] Here, if the size of the joint difference information is small enough, the computing device converts the completed joint information into Difference information by joint and current joint information Update; If the size of the joint difference information is not small enough, then as shown in the following mathematical formula 20, the joint difference information Add to current joint information

[0460] Thereafter, the target state information determination step (step 2540) is repeated.

[0461] That is, if the size of the joint difference information is small enough, the converted joint information is calculated by the following mathematical formula 19.

[0462]

Mathematical formula 19

[0463]

[0464] In addition, if the size of the joint difference information is not small enough, the current joint information is calculated by the following mathematical formula 20.

[0465]

Mathematical formula 20

[0466]

[0467] The computing device may then repeat the step of determining target state information (step 2540 ).

[0468] Specifically, the computing device determines whether the target posture corresponding to the drive information exceeds the drive limit of at least one drive component included in the surgical device (step 2545). If the drive limit is exceeded, the modified state information is determined as the final target state information (step 2547). If the drive limit is not exceeded, the steps of determining the drive component difference information, determining the modified state information, determining whether the drive limit is exceeded, and then determining the target state information accordingly are repeated until the drive component difference information is less than a second threshold, thereby driving the surgical device sufficiently close to the target posture. Furthermore, even if at least one drive component included in the surgical device reaches the drive limit, the problem of surgical interruption due to algorithm calculation delays can be resolved.

[0469] In addition, as previously described, the computing device may use the determined target state information, such as the joint information of the completed transformation Driving the surgical device, wherein reference posture information of the user input interface can be initialized if at least one driving component is constrained within the driving limit

[0470] Therefore, while constraining the drive assembly within the drive limit, the problem of the surgical robot's movement being different from the user's intuitive intention can be solved.

[0471] In addition, the above method can be implemented as a program executable on a computer, and can be implemented in a general-purpose digital computer that runs the above program using a computer-readable recording medium. In addition, the data structure used in the above method can be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium in various ways. The above computer-readable recording medium includes magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM, RAM, USB, floppy disk, hard disk, etc.), optically readable media (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, etc.) storage media.

[0472] Furthermore, the method may be provided as a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded as a commodity between a seller and a buyer. The computer program product may be distributed in the form of a device-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or may be distributed online (e.g., uploaded or downloaded) through an app store (e.g., Play Store™) or directly between two user devices (e.g., smartphones). In the case of online distribution, at least a portion of the computer program product may be temporarily stored or at least temporarily generated on a device-readable storage medium, such as a memory on a manufacturer's server, an app store's server, or a relay server.

[0473] Those skilled in the art of the present invention will appreciate that the present invention can be modified and implemented without exceeding the essential characteristics described herein. Therefore, the disclosed method should be considered from an illustrative rather than a restrictive perspective, and the scope of rights should be interpreted as described in the claims and including all differences within the scope of equivalents thereof, rather than the content of the foregoing description.

Claims

1. A method for driving a surgical device, comprising: generating operation information of the surgical device based on an amount of change in a reference gesture of a user input interaction portion for controlling the surgical device; determining a target posture of the surgical device corresponding to the generated operation information; generating target state information of at least one drive assembly equipped in the surgical device based on whether the target posture exceeds a drive limit of at least one drive assembly equipped in the surgical device; and The at least one driving component is driven according to the target state information.

2. The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 1, wherein: The drive assembly includes a joint; The target state information includes a target joint angle; The drive limits include joint limit angles. 3 . The method for driving a surgical device according to claim 1 , wherein the reference posture of the user input interaction portion is configured to be updated to pre-operation posture information of the user input interaction portion before the user input interaction portion is operated for the first time.

4. The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 1 , wherein determining the target posture comprises: The target posture is determined based on a relationship between the movement intended by the user input interaction and the movement of the surgical device.

5. The method for driving a surgical device according to claim 1 , wherein generating the target state information comprises: In response to determining that the target pose exceeds a drive limit of at least one drive assembly equipped in the surgical device, modified state information is generated, the modified state information constraining a drive state of the at least one drive assembly to not exceed the drive limit. 6 . The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 5 , wherein the modified state information is determined such that the more the degree to which the target posture exceeds the driving limit increases, the closer the driving result of the driving component approaches the driving limit.

7. The method for driving a surgical device according to claim 1, wherein the driving step is configured to update a reference posture of the user input interaction part using post-operation posture information of the user input interaction part in response to determining that the target posture exceeds a driving limit of at least one driving component equipped in the surgical device.

8. The method for driving a surgical device according to claim 1 , wherein generating the target state information comprises: generating drive assembly difference information based on a degree of state change of the at least one drive assembly required to change the surgical device to the target posture; generating modified state information, wherein a driving result of the at least one driving component is constrained to be within a range within the driving limit of the at least one driving component; and Based on the drive component difference information and the modified state information, it is determined whether the target pose exceeds a drive limit of the at least one drive component.

9. The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 8, wherein generating the driving component difference information comprises: determining a current posture of the surgical device based on information about a current state of the at least one drive assembly; generating posture difference information based on a difference between the target posture and the current posture of the surgical device; The posture difference information is converted into the drive component difference information.

10. The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 8, wherein generating the modified state information comprises: The modified state information is generated based on the drive component difference information, an upper limit of the drive limit of the at least one drive component, a lower limit of the drive limit of the at least one drive component, and a tangent function.

11. The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 8, wherein determining whether the driving limit is exceeded comprises: Whether the target posture exceeds the driving limit is determined based on whether a difference between the modified driving component difference information and the driving component difference information exceeds a predetermined first threshold.

12. The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 11, wherein generating the modified drive assembly difference information comprises: The modified drive component difference information is generated based on a difference between the modified state information and information about a current state of the at least one drive component.

13. The method for driving a surgical device according to claim 8, wherein generating the target state information further comprises: In response to determining that the driving limit is exceeded, the modified state information is generated as the target state information.

14. The method for driving a surgical device according to claim 13, wherein generating the target state information further comprises: In response to determining that the driving limit is not exceeded and determining that the driving component difference information is less than a second threshold, a value of adding the driving component difference information to the current state information of the driving component is determined as the target state information. 15 . The method of driving a surgical device according to claim 14 , wherein generating the target state information is repeatedly performed until it is determined that the driving limit is exceeded or the driving component difference information is determined to be less than a second threshold.

16. A device for driving a surgical device, the device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory; The at least one processor is configured to execute the method of driving a surgical device according to any one of claims 1 to 15 .

17. A surgical robot system, comprising: User input interaction section; surgical devices; and at least one processor; The at least one processor is configured to execute the method of driving a surgical device according to any one of claims 1 to 15 .

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for execution by a processor, the instructions allowing the processor to perform the method for driving a surgical device according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

Images