Surgical assemblies and related methods are disclosed that provide for decoupling of instrument shaft roll and end effector actuation. A surgical assembly includes a base, an instrument shaft rotationally mounted to the base, an end effector supported at a distal end of the instrument shaft and including an actuation mechanism driven by a rotational motion, a drive shaft rotationally coupled with the actuation mechanism and configured to provide the rotational motion to the actuation mechanism, and a differential rotationally coupled to the drive shaft and receiving a first input motion and a second input motion. The differential combines the first and second input motions to generate an output motion that rotates the drive shaft. The first input motion is rotationally coupleable to an actuation source. The second input motion is coupled to rotation of the instrument shaft relative to the base.

Surgical assemblies and related methods are disclosed that provide for decoupling of instrument shaft roll and end effector actuation. A surgical assembly includes a base, an instrument shaft rotationally mounted to the base, an end effector supported at a distal end of the instrument shaft and including an actuation mechanism driven by a rotational motion, a drive shaft rotationally coupled with the actuation mechanism and configured to provide the rotational motion to the actuation mechanism, and a differential rotationally coupled to the drive shaft and receiving a first input motion and a second input motion. The differential combines the first and second input motions to generate an output motion that rotates the drive shaft. The first input motion is rotationally coupleable to an actuation source. The second input motion is coupled to rotation of the instrument shaft relative to the base.

An actuator (12) includes a moving member (18) pivotally connected to a base unit (14) for rotation about an axis. The driving force for rotation of the moving member (18) relative to the base unit (14) is provided by a pair of antagonistically operating shape memory alloy (SMA) wires (48, 50) and transmitted via a torsional spring (56). An endoscope, or a snake-like robot (66), may include one or more of the actuators (12).

An instrument having a flexible and elongated body includes at least a lumen and a flex member disposed within the lumen. The flex member may be capable of providing steering control to a first portion of the elongate body while providing load bearing support to a second portion of the elongate body. A pull wire may be disposed within the flex member, and at least a distal portion of the pull wire may be coupled to the elongate body and a proximal portion of the pull wire may be operatively coupled to a control unit. The control unit may be coupled to a proximal portion of the elongate body. In addition, a control member may be operatively coupled to the control unit such that a distal portion of the control member may be positioned near a proximal portion of the flex member. The control member may be configured to support the flex member and control the movement or displacement of the flex member. Furthermore, the flex member may be configured to selectively decouple articulation or steering forces of a first portion of the elongate body away from a second portion of the elongate body; thereby, preventing compression of the second portion of the elongate body while maintaining elasticity or flexibility of the second portion of the elongate body.

Robotic surgical systems and methods for using both laparoscopic and trans-cervical tools and imaging devices to resect fibroids or other abnormal uterine tissue.

A system for conducting denervation of the neural plexus adjacent the renal artery, comprises a pre-shaped ablative element operatively coupled to an elongate deployment member configured to be navigated into the renal artery, the pre-shaped ablative element comprising one or more RF electrodes disposed in an arcuate pattern; and an energy source operatively coupled to the one or more RF electrodes and being configured to cause current to flow from the pre-shaped ablative element and cause localized heating sufficient to denervate nearby neural tissue.

A surgical system is disclosed. The surgical system comprises a surgical instrument comprising an end effector, wherein the end effector is configured to perform an end effector function, and a control circuit configured to control the end effector function and automatically adapt the control of the end effector function over time, and limit the automatic adaptation of the control of the end effector function.

A surgical image acquisition system includes multiple illumination sources, each source emitting light at a specified wavelength, a light sensor to receive light reflected from a tissue sample illuminated by each of the illumination sources, and a computing system. The computing system may receive data from the light sensor when the tissue sample is illuminated by the illumination sources, and calculate structural data related to one or more characteristics of a structure within the tissue. The structural data may be a surface characteristic such as a surface roughness or a structure composition such as a collagen and elastin composition. The computer system may further transmit the structural data to a smart surgical device. The smart devices may include a smart stapler, a smart RF sealing device, or a smart ultrasonic cutting device. The system may include a controller and computer enabled instructions to accomplish the above.

An integrated control system for a surgical robot based on embedded computers is provided. The system comprises a main control terminal and a controlled terminal. The main control terminal and the controlled terminal perform the exchange. A remote control device and pedals are connected with the host computer. The host computer performs the exchange of the control signals and the status signals with the controlled terminal through a control cabinet. When the pedal is depressed, the remote control device controls motions of a certain tool with which a mapping relationship is established. When the pedal is released, the corresponding motion control is cut off. The host computer is configured to perform the exchange of the control signals and the status signals with the controlled terminal through a control cabinet.

Disclosed is a flexible surgical instrument system, comprising a flexible surgical instrument. The flexible surgical instrument comprises a flexible continuous body structure composed of a distal structural body, a proximal structural body and a middle connecting body. The distal structural body comprises a distal structural segment (12, 13), the distal structural segment comprising a distal spacing disk, a fixing disk and structural backbones. The proximal structural body comprises a proximal structural segment, the proximal structural segment comprising a proximal spacing disk, a proximal fixing disk and structural backbones. The middle connecting body comprises channel fixing plates and a structural backbone guide channel. A driving unit fixing plate is arranged behind the channel fixing plates, a plurality of cable transmission mechanisms for converting a rotational motion input into a linear motion output are arranged between the driving unit fixing plate and the channel fixing plate, an output end of each of the cable transmission mechanisms is connected to one end of a driving backbone via a linear motion mechanism, and the other end of the driving backbone passes through the proximal spacing disk and is then securely connected to the proximal fixing disk.