A surgical instrument. In one form, the surgical instrument comprises a first jaw and a second jaw that is movably supported relative to the first jaw for selective movement between open and closed positions relative to the first jaw. A firing drive shaft is rotatably supported in one of the first and second jaws. A firing member operably interfaces with the firing drive shaft for selective axial travel in response to rotation of the firing drive shaft. The surgical instrument further comprises a distal power shaft that is separate and distinct from the firing drive shaft and is configured for selective operable engagement with the firing drive shaft. A closure member is supported for axial travel on a proximal end portion of the first jaw and is configured for selective threaded engagement with a portion of the distal power shaft.

An end effector for use with a surgical fastening instrument is disclosed which comprises a staple cartridge and an anvil. The staple cartridge comprises a cartridge body including a deck and, in addition, fasteners removably stored in the cartridge body, wherein each fastener comprises a base and a leg extending from the base. The anvil comprises a tissue compression surface and forming pockets defined in the tissue compression surface. Each forming pocket comprises a first end configured to receive a staple leg, a second end, a central axis extending between the first end and the second end, a concave turning surface extending between the first end and the second end, and a channel defined in the concave turning surface, wherein the channel is laterally offset from the central axis.

A surgical instrument is disclosed. In one form, the surgical instrument comprises an elongate shaft assembly and an end effector that is configured for selective rotation relative to the axis of the elongate shaft assembly. The surgical instrument can include a rotary locking system for locking the surgical end effector in rotary orientations about the shaft axis upon application of axial locking and axial unlocking motions to the rotary locking system. The surgical instrument may further comprise a rotary drive system that is configured to apply rotary control motions to a firing member as well as to apply rotary positioning motions to the surgical end effector.

A surgical instrument comprising a lockout is disclosed.

A surgical instrument comprising an end effector is disclosed. The end effector comprises a staple cartridge including a cartridge body comprising an annular array of staple cavities, staples removably stored in the staple cavities, a firing drive configured to eject the staples from the staple cavities, and a cutting member circumscribed by the staple cavities. The end effector further comprises an anvil including a tissue compression surface, forming surfaces configured to deform the staples and a tissue block. The anvil is movable toward the cartridge body to compress tissue between the cartridge body and the tissue block and the cutting member is configured to incise the tissue and the tissue block during a cutting stroke of the cutting member.

A handle includes a first operation input body provided on a handle main body and configured to rotate in first and second directions to operate a first end effector; an interlock body rotatable relative to the first operation input body; an engaging portion provided in the interlock body and configured to be engaged with the handle main body and to restrict rotation of the first operation input body in the second direction when the first operation input body is rotated in the first direction; and a second operation input body configured to rotate to operate a second end effector, and disengage the engaging portion from the handle main body by pressing the interlock body.

A snakelike surgical instrument, comprising a handheld structure (2); an manipulating structure (1) comprising an outer frame (13) hingedly connected to the handheld structure (2) so that the manipulating structure (1) has a rotational degree of freedom (R1′) around a first axis and an inner frame (14) hingedly connected to the outer frame (13) so that the manipulating structure (1) has a rotational degree of freedom (R2′) around a second axis, the first axis and the second axis forming an angle; an end unit (4) connected to the handheld structure (2) by means of a connecting component (3) and comprising a tool supporting base (41) and a snakelike structure (40) connected to the tool supporting base (41), the snakelike structure (40) having degrees of freedom of motion (R1, R2) in the same direction as the manipulating structure (1); and a transmission unit (5) comprising a flexible transmission structure connected to the inner frame (14) and the snakelike structure (40). A mechanical transmission mode is used by the snakelike surgical instrument, the motion of a handheld side can be directly transmitted to the end unit (4), complicated force feedback control is avoided, and control is simple.

An interchangeable shaft assembly for a surgical instrument that includes first and second drive systems. The interchangeable shaft assembly is configured for removable attachment to a housing of the surgical instrument. Various embodiments include a latch system that enables the interchangeable shaft assembly to be detached from the housing when the first drive system is unactuated but prevents the interchangeable shaft assembly from being detached from the housing when the first drive system is in an actuated position.

A deployment mechanism for selectively deploying and retracting an energizable member and/an insulative member relative to an end effector assembly of a surgical instrument includes one or more actuators, a clutch assembly, and a drive assembly. The clutch assembly is configured to couple to the actuator(s) to provide rotational motion in the first direction in response to such rotation of the actuator(s) and to decouple from the actuator(s) in response to rotation thereof in the second direction. The drive assembly is operably coupled to the clutch assembly and is configured to convert the rotational motion provided by the clutch assembly into longitudinal motion to translate the energizable member and/or insulative member from a storage position to a deployed position and to translate the energizable member and/or the insulative member from the deployed position back to the storage position.

Disclosed herein a haptic handling system for tele-robotic surgery. The haptic handling system may include a main body, a fine-tuning roll mechanism, and a grasp control mechanism. The main body may include a first hollow cylindrical section and a second hollow cylindrical section. The fine-tuning roll mechanism may include a knob, a roller coupled to the knob, and a roll encoder coupled to the roller. The grasp control mechanism may include a slider comprising an internal slider and an external slider, a lead screw coupled to the slider, and a grasp encoder coupled to the lead screw. The haptic handling system may further include a force feedback system comprising one or more dynamometers measuring a magnitude and a direction of a couple and a force applied to a surgical tool, a roll actuator coupled to the roller, and a grasp actuator coupled to the lead screw.