Medical Manipulator Tool Attachment Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical manipulators for surgery assistance require complex detachment mechanisms for sterilization, which can be cumbersome and time-consuming, affecting operational efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A medical manipulator design featuring a surgical tool unit with a pair of input members that advance and retract parallel to each other, driven by a drive source, and interconnected transmission members that reverse direction, allowing for efficient attachment and detachment through a simple axial movement mechanism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a complex detachment mechanism is provided for sterilization, then surgical tool units can be detached for sterilization, but the attachment and detachment process becomes cumbersome and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical tool is divided into separable components: a surgical tool unit and a surgical tool drive unit that can be detached from each other. This segmentation enables the surgical tool unit to be removed for sterilization while the drive unit remains in place, resolving the contradiction between sterilization capability and time consumption by making detachment necessary but simplifying the process through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical tool unit is extracted as a separate detachable component from the surgical tool drive unit. This extraction allows the tool unit to be removed for sterilization purposes while maintaining a simple attachment mechanism that minimizes the time and complexity of the detachment process
2Ease of operation
If a simple axial movement mechanism is used for attachment and detachment, then attachment and detachment become rapid and simple, but precise control during surgical operation may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system is segmented into a simple attachment mechanism for rapid connection/disconnection and a separate transmission mechanism for precise surgical control. The input member advancement mechanism provides simple axial movement for attachment, while the transmission members and linkages maintain precision during actual surgical operation
Solution Approach 2:
Transmission members act as intermediaries between the simple axial input member movement and the surgical tool effector. These transmission members convert the simple axial advancement into precise controlled movements of the surgical tool, maintaining manufacturing precision while keeping the attachment mechanism simple
Data Source
AI summary
In a medical manipulator, the surgical tool drive unit includes: a pair of input members that has a first input member and a second input member, are arranged in a pair at a first end portion in an attachment and detachment direction with respect to the surgical tool unit, are capable of advancing and retracting parallel to each other, and transmit the driving force in an advance direction when the pair of input members are advanced to the surgical tool unit side; and a drive source that causes at least one of the pair of input members to advance and retract.