Robotic Surgical Tool Holder With Selective Grip and Drive
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic surgical systems are limited in their ability to effectively use both proprietary and off-the-shelf surgical tools, often requiring a full range of expensive tools and struggling to accommodate tools with different power and speed requirements, such as high speed and low torque, or low speed and high torque, and reciprocation needs.
Innovation Solution
A robotic surgical tool holder that can detachably mount on a surgical robotic arm, featuring a drive train that selectively couples to either a tool gripper mechanism or a tool driver mechanism, allowing it to hold and operate both off-the-shelf and proprietary tools, with a mechanism to decouple the gripper when a driven tool is engaged, and a design that accommodates tools with different power and operational needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a robotic surgical system uses proprietary tools designed for specific tool holders, then the system can achieve optimized performance for robotic use, but the system loses the ability to use conventional off-the-shelf surgical tools
Solution Approach 1:
The tool holder is designed with dual functionality: it can grip conventional surgical tools through a gripper mechanism or drive robotic surgical tools through a drive train with output drive elements. This universal design allows the same tool holder to accommodate both off-the-shelf tools and proprietary robotic tools, resolving the contradiction between optimized performance and tool compatibility
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system supplies a full range of conventional surgical power tools with different sizes and characteristics, then surgeons have complete selection, but the cost becomes prohibitively expensive
Solution Approach 1:
By designing a universal tool holder that can accommodate multiple tool types through a single interface, the system reduces the need to purchase and maintain separate specialized tool holders for each tool type. The drive train can be configured with different output drive elements to match various tool requirements, providing complete tool selection while reducing overall system cost
3Device complexity
If the tool holder uses a single drive train for all tool types, then the structure is simplified, but the system cannot accommodate tools with different power and speed requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The drive train is designed with dynamic reconfiguration capability through selectable output drive elements that can be engaged or disengaged based on tool requirements. This allows the same drive train to deliver different power and speed characteristics by selectively connecting to different output elements, maintaining structural simplicity while accommodating diverse tool requirements
Data Source
AI summary
A robotic surgical tool holder interchangeably holds both conventional surgical tools and surgical tools designed specifically for the holder. The tool holder will usually hold but not drive the conventional tools while both holding and driving those tools designed specifically for the tool holder. The tool holder is detachably mounted on a distal end of a surgical robotic arm and has an opening which removably receives individual surgical tools of either type. A drive train in the housing has one input which is driven by the surgical robotic arm and separate outputs for both a tool gripper and a tool driver.