A surgical stapling instrument comprising an articulatable end effector including a staple cartridge is disclosed. The stapling instrument further comprises an articulation drive configured to articulate the end effector and a staple firing drive configured to fire the staples from the staple cartridge during a staple firing stroke. The articulation drive is selectively engageable with the staple firing drive to articulate the end effector and decoupled from the staple firing drive during the staple firing stroke. The stapling instrument further comprises a control system that is configured to compensate for the net displacement of the staple firing drive that occurs when articulating the end effector.

A surgical instrument comprising an articulatable end effector and an articulation control system is disclosed. The articulation control system comprises actuators that, when actuated, cause the end effector to articulate in predetermined directions. When the end effector is rotated downwardly, the articulation control system flips, or switches, the response to the inputs from the actuators.

A method for adjusting the operation of a surgical instrument using machine learning in a surgical suite is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of gathering data during surgical procedures, wherein the surgical procedures include the use of a surgical instrument, analyzing the gathered data to determine an appropriate operational adjustment of the surgical instrument, and adjusting the operation of the surgical instrument to improve the operation of the surgical instrument.

A surgical instrument is disclosed. The surgical instrument includes a shaft, a sensing array and a fluid detection circuit. The sensing array is positioned within the shaft. The fluid detection circuit is electrically coupled to the sensing array, and is configured to determine when a fluid originating from an environment external to the shaft is present within the shaft.

Various aspects of a generator, ultrasonic device, and method for estimating and controlling a state of an end effector of an ultrasonic device are disclosed. The ultrasonic device includes an electromechanical ultrasonic system defined by a predetermined resonant frequency, including an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade. A control circuit measures a complex impedance of an ultrasonic transducer, wherein the complex impedance is defined as $Z_g\left(t\right)=\frac{V_g\left(t\right)}{I_g\left(t\right)}.$
The control circuit receives a complex impedance measurement data point and compares the complex impedance measurement data point to a data point in a reference complex impedance characteristic pattern. The control circuit then classifies the complex impedance measurement data point based on a result of the comparison analysis and assigns a state or condition of the end effector based on the result of the comparison analysis. The control circuit estimates the state of the end effector of the ultrasonic device and controls the state of the end effector of the ultrasonic device based on the estimated state.

A generator, ultrasonic device, and method for controlling a temperature of an ultrasonic blade are disclosed. A control circuit coupled to a memory determines an actual resonant frequency of an ultrasonic electromechanical system comprising an ultrasonic transducer coupled to an ultrasonic blade by an ultrasonic waveguide. The actual resonant frequency is correlated to an actual temperature of the ultrasonic blade. The control circuit retrieves from the memory a reference resonant frequency of the ultrasonic electromechanical system. The reference resonant frequency is correlated to a reference temperature of the ultrasonic blade. The control circuit then infers the temperature of the ultrasonic blade based on the difference between the actual resonant frequency and the reference resonant frequency. The control circuit controls the temperature of the ultrasonic blade based on the inferred temperature

A method of controlling the temperature of an ultrasonic blade between two temperature set points includes applying a first power level to an ultrasonic transducer to set an ultrasonic blade temperature to a first target temperature T1, monitoring a phase angle φ between voltage V.sub.g(t) and current I.sub.g(t) signals applied to the transducer, inferring the temperature of the blade based on the phase angle φ, determining that a transection process is complete, and applying a second power level to the transducer to set the blade temperature to a second target temperature T2. The transducer may be coupled to the blade via an ultrasonic waveguide. The first target temperature may be optimized for vessel sealing and the second target temperature may be optimized for clamp arm pad life. The control circuit may determine that transection is complete by determining that the ultrasonic blade contacts the clamp arm pad.

A surgical instrument is configured to compensate for battery pack and drivetrain failures. One method includes generating a firing sequence, determining whether a subset of rechargeable battery cells is damaged during the firing sequence, and stepping-up an output voltage of the battery pack to complete the firing sequence in response to a determination that a subset of the rechargeable battery cells is damaged. Another method includes generating a mechanical output to motivate a drivetrain to transmit a motion to a jaw assembly of the surgical instrument, activating a safe mode in response to an acute failure of the drivetrain, and activating a bailout mode in response to a catastrophic failure of the drivetrain. Another method includes driving a drivetrain, sensing and recording vibration information from the drivetrain, generating an output signal based on the vibration information, and determining a status of the surgical instrument based on the output signal.

A method for downloading data from a surgical hub to a surgical instrument is disclosed. The method comprises assembling a first shaft assembly to a handle and downloading a first set of operational data from the surgical hub to the handle once the first shaft assembly is attached to the handle. The method further comprises assembling a second shaft assembly to the handle and downloading a second set of operational data from the surgical hub to the handle once the second shaft assembly is attached to the handle, wherein the second set of operational data is different than the first set of operational data.

An energy control device for an ultrasonic treatment tool which includes an ultrasonic transducer and an end effector that performs a treatment using the ultrasonic vibration generated by the ultrasonic transducer comprises a first power supply configured to supply an electric power to the ultrasonic transducer, and a circuit. The circuit is configured to measure an output duration, monitor a characteristic parameter representing a situation of the treatment, set a time threshold value based on the characteristic parameter, and perform, when the output duration exceeds the time threshold value, at least one of: stopping or reducing the output of electric power from the first power supply to the ultrasonic transducer and notifying that the output duration has exceeded the time threshold value.