Sterile Physician Input Handle for Concentric Tube Robot Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional endoscopic surgical systems are limited by rigid tools with restricted degrees of freedom, making precise manipulation and dexterity challenging, especially in narrow anatomical spaces, and require surgeons to operate input consoles outside the sterile field, disrupting workflow.
Innovation Solution
A physician input device with multiple degrees of freedom, including linear translation, tilt, pan, and rotation, controls robotically operated concentric tube manipulators integrated with a rigid endoscope, allowing for precise tool movement and real-time visual feedback, and can be used within the sterile field.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If rigid tools with restricted degrees of freedom are used in conventional endoscopic surgery, then the device structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but precision manipulation and dexterity are limited especially in narrow anatomical spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements concentric tube manipulators where multiple flexible tubes are nested within each other, with each tube capable of independent actuation. This nested configuration enables complex tip motions and multiple degrees of freedom while maintaining a compact, minimally invasive profile that can pass through narrow anatomical channels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from static rigid tools to dynamic flexible manipulators that can adapt their configuration in real-time. The concentric tubes can be actively controlled to change curvature, extend, and reposition their tips dynamically, enabling precision manipulation in narrow spaces while the flexible structure itself adapts to anatomical constraints.
2Ease of operation
If surgeons operate input consoles outside the sterile field, then the input device can be larger and more complex, but workflow is disrupted and sterility is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a sterile adapter or interface mechanism that acts as an intermediary between the non-sterile control system and the sterile surgical field. This allows the input console to remain outside the sterile boundary while still enabling precise control of instruments within the sterile field, maintaining both ease of operation and sterility.
3Productivity
If single instrument manipulation is used in conventional endoscopy, then the working channel size can be smaller, but the ability to perform bimanual tasks is eliminated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the concentric tube manipulators to perform multiple functions through a single integrated system. The nested tubes can independently execute different tasks, enabling virtual bimanual manipulation where one manipulator can grasp while another cuts, or where different sections of the same manipulator perform complementary functions, all through a single working channel.
4Stability of the object's composition
If rigid endoscopes are used for visualization, then the structural integrity is high, but the field of view moves constantly when the endoscope is pivoted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements real-time feedback systems including optical tracking and sensor feedback that monitor the position and orientation of the endoscope and manipulators. This feedback is used to dynamically adjust the field of view or provide visual stabilization, compensating for endoscope movement and maintaining a stable view of the surgical site despite rigid endoscope pivoting.
Data Source
AI summary
A highly intuitive physician input device for communication with a minimally invasive endoscopic concentric tube surgical robot. The physician input device can comprise a user interface handle assembly, a user interface linear joint assembly, a user interfaced bearing block assembly, and a user interface base assembly, and sensors distributed throughout to measure each of these axes, possibly redundantly for safety. Due to the network of sensors and encoders built in to the physician input device, it is capable of triggering a movement in the endoscopic concentric tube robot corresponding to that of the movements made on the physician input device. There are at least four movement controls the physician input device is capable of communicating to the concentric tube robot, those being translation, pan, tilt, and axial rotation. In some embodiments a fifth control includes actuation of a tool such as a gripper.