Virtual reality wrist assembly
Inventors
WENTWORTH, Marshall • Kline, Eric • Eilenberg, Michael • KHALIFA, Sammy
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-12364550-B2
Publication Date
2025-07-22
Expiration Date
Abstract
A surgical apparatus system for minimally invasive surgery (MIS) which includes a wrist assembly. The wrist assembly includes a first jaw, a first actuation hub, and a cable redirecting hub operably coupled to the first actuation hub, a second jaw, a second actuation hub, a housing for the first and second jaws, a first cable, a second cable, a third cable, rotational position sensors, and a control system. The first and second jaws of the wrist assembly are movably opposed, and the cables are configured such that applying tensions upon them cables produces rotation about a jaw axis. The wrist assembly may further include a hinge-rotary assembly to configured to provide rotation about a pitch axis and/or a roll axis. The wrist assembly may further include a fourth cable configured such that applying tensions upon the fourth cable and the opposing cable produces rotation about a pitch axis.
Core Innovation
A wrist assembly includes a jaw assembly having a first jaw and a second jaw that rotate about a jaw axis, with the first jaw configured with a first working segment, a first actuation hub, and a cable redirecting hub operably coupled to the first actuation hub. The first actuation hub includes a cable passageway and an outer perimeter, and the cable redirecting hub includes a redirecting hub cable raceway adjacent to the outer perimeter of the first actuation hub. The second jaw includes a second working segment and a second actuation hub with a first cable raceway disposed along an outer perimeter of the second actuation hub, and the jaws are housed in a housing for the first and second jaws.
A first cable is disposed in at least a portion of the first cable raceway and coupled to the second jaw, and a second cable is disposed in the cable passageway and coupled to the second jaw. A third cable is disposed in at least a portion of the redirecting hub cable raceway and coupled to the first jaw. A fourth cable is coupled to a first body of the housing or to a second body of the housing of the jaw assembly. This cable arrangement is configured so that applying a first tension to the first cable, a second tension to the second cable, a third tension to the third cable, a fourth tension to the fourth cable, and an opposing tension to an opposing cable generates torques along the jaw axis that rotate the first jaw and second jaw in first or second directions relative to each other.
The wrist assembly further includes a hinge-rotary assembly coupled to the jaw assembly that provides rotation of the jaw assembly about a pitch axis and rotation about a roll axis. The hinge-rotary assembly includes a female rotary body defining a cavity and a hinge-rotary body disposed at least partially within the cavity, with the hinge-rotary body comprising a cable conduit that houses at least a portion of one or more of the first, second, or third cables. A decoupling surface is located on at least one of the hinge cover or the hinge-rotary body, and the decoupling surface allows one or more of the first, second, or third cables to ride along at least a portion of the decoupling surface. A control system rotates the first jaw, the second jaw, or both about the jaw axis and determines one or more tensions to cause rotation about the pitch axis, the jaw axis, or both based on data from rotational position sensors.
Claims Coverage
The independent claim set in the provided content is clm-00001 only. It covers a multi-cable, jaw-axis torque generation wrist assembly with a hinge-rotary assembly providing pitch and roll, and a control system that uses rotational position sensor data to determine cable tensions for jaw and pitch rotation.
Cable raceway and redirecting hub for jaw rotation
A jaw assembly with a first jaw configured to rotate about a jaw axis, the first jaw having a first working segment, a first actuation hub with a cable passageway and an outer perimeter, and a cable redirecting hub with a redirecting hub cable raceway adjacent to the outer perimeter of the first actuation hub, and a second jaw configured to rotate about the jaw axis and movably opposed to the first jaw, the second jaw having a second working segment and a second actuation hub with a first cable raceway disposed along an outer perimeter of the second actuation hub, housed in a housing for the first and second jaws.
Multi-cable tension mapping to jaw-axis torques
First, second, third, and fourth cables arranged in the jaw assembly raceways and passageway and coupled to the jaws or housing such that applying tension relationships among the first, second, third, and fourth tensions generates torques along the jaw axis that rotate the first jaw and second jaw in first or second directions relative to each other.
Hinge-rotary assembly with cable conduit and decoupling surface
A hinge-rotary assembly coupled to the jaw assembly configured to provide rotation about a pitch axis and rotation about a roll axis, comprising a female rotary body defining a cavity, a hinge-rotary body disposed at least partially within the cavity with a cable conduit housing at least a portion of one or more of the first, second, or third cables, a hinge cover, and a decoupling surface located on at least one of the hinge cover or the hinge-rotary body configured to allow one or more of the first, second, or third cables to ride along at least a portion of the decoupling surface.
Sensor-driven tension determination for pitch and jaw rotation
A control system configured to rotate the first jaw, the second jaw, or both about the jaw axis and further configured to accept data from at least one first rotational position sensor, at least one second rotational positional sensor, or both, to determine one or more of the first tension, the second tension, the third tension, the fourth tension, or the opposing tension to cause rotation of the jaw assembly about the pitch axis, the jaw axis, or both.
The core inventive coverage is a wrist assembly that uses a specific jaw-axis cable routing architecture, applies multi-cable tensions to generate torques about the jaw axis, supports pitch and roll rotation with a hinge-rotary assembly that includes a cable conduit and a decoupling surface, and uses a control system that determines cable tensions from rotational position sensor data to drive jaw and pitch rotation.
Stated Advantages
Documented Applications
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