In-Line Shoulder Joint Layout for Single-Port Surgical Robotics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current minimally-invasive surgical techniques face challenges such as increased surgery duration, reduced visibility, and dexterity requirements, while existing robotic systems are costly, complex, and require extensive training, and single-port entry systems like GelPort have limitations in triangulation and access.
Innovation Solution
A single-armed robotic device with a compact joint design, featuring an in-line shoulder joint and nested driveshafts, allowing insertion through a small incision and providing three degrees of freedom, which can be used with existing surgical tools and techniques, reducing complexity and cost.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If traditional robotic surgical platforms like Da Vinci are used, then surgical precision and automation are improved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic system is divided into separate functional modules: a control console for automation and a simple single-port robotic device for surgical execution. This segmentation allows the complex automation logic to be isolated in the console while the actual surgical device remains mechanically simple, resolving the contradiction between automation extent and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A single-port robotic device acts as an intermediary between the control console and the surgical site. It translates complex automated commands into simple mechanical movements through a single incision, enabling automated surgery without requiring the surgical device itself to be complex.
2Length of moving object
If single-port entry systems like GelPort are used, then incision size is reduced, but triangulation and surgical access are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic device incorporates dynamic articulation mechanisms that allow the surgical instruments to move and position themselves optimally within the single-port constraint. The wrist assembly provides dynamic range of motion compensation, maintaining surgical triangulation despite the fixed single-port entry point.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a robotic arm with multiple degrees of freedom that moves in three-dimensional space to compensate for the two-dimensional constraint of a single-port entry. By adding temporal and spatial dimensions to instrument positioning, the system achieves triangulation equivalent to multi-port surgery through a single incision.
3Volume of moving object
If compact joint design with in-line configuration is used, then device profile is minimized for single-port insertion, but joint complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The joint assembly uses a nested configuration where the wrist assembly is positioned within the robotic arm, and the shoulder joint is integrated into the arm structure. This nesting allows multiple joint functions to be packed into a compact volume while maintaining the in-line configuration needed for single-port insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple joint functions are merged into integrated assemblies. The shoulder joint combines rotational and articulation functions, while the wrist assembly integrates end-effector positioning and instrument orientation capabilities. This merging reduces the number of separate components and achieves compactness without proportionally increasing complexity.
4Ease of operation
If robotic arms with multiple degrees of freedom are used, then surgical dexterity is improved, but device size and insertion difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic arm is segmented into functional sections (shoulder, arm, wrist, end-effector) that can be independently optimized. Each segment contributes specific degrees of freedom needed for dexterity, while the overall length is minimized by efficient spatial arrangement and using a single-port entry point to reduce the required reach.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 2C~2D
AI summary
Disclosed herein are various robotic surgical devices and systems that include first and second elongate bodies, first and second driveshafts disposed through the second elongate body, and an in-line shoulder joint with a robotic arm coupled thereto. In certain implementations, the in-line shoulder joint has a differential yoke and a dual shaft disposed within the yoke lumen.