A medical robot system, including a robot coupled to an effectuator element with the robot configured for controlled movement and positioning. The system may include a transmitter configured to emit one or more signals, and the transmitter is coupled to an instrument coupled to the effectuator element. The system may further include a motor assembly coupled to the robot and a plurality of receivers configured to receive the one or more signals emitted by the transmitter. A control unit is coupled to the motor assembly and the plurality of receivers, and the control unit is configured to supply one or more instruction signals to the motor assembly. The instruction signals can be configured to cause the motor assembly to selectively move the effectuator element

Devices, systems, and methods for automatically exchanging a first end-effector on a robot arm with a second end-effector housed in a docking station. The first end-effector has a clamp that either engages or disengages the robot arm based upon an application of force of the robot arm onto the end-effector. The clamp has a spring loaded clip that disengages the first end-effector to allow the robot arm to move away from the released first end-effector. The robot arm is configured to automatically move to a port of a docking station housing the desired second end-effector using magnetic coils on the robot arm and the docking station to guide the robot arm.

An apparatus for patient position or motion monitoring includes: an energy source configured to emit energy from a first location to a second location, or vice versa, wherein the second location that is moveable relative to the first location in response to a movement by a patient; and a processing unit coupled to receive an input that is based on the emitted energy, and to determine a characteristic associated with the patient based on the input.

Provided is a surgical method. The method includes detecting a location of a reference unit having a trackable element with a detector, the detector configured to provide at least one signal corresponding to a detected location of at least the reference unit's trackable element, wherein the reference unit is associated with a location of an anatomical feature of a being's anatomy; accessing a computer-readable reconstruction of the being's anatomy, the computer-readable reconstruction of the being's anatomy having a first updatable orientation, wherein the first updatable orientation is updated in response to the at least one signal; accessing a computer-readable reconstruction of an implant having a second updatable orientation; detecting a location of a pointer tool comprising a trackable element with the detector, the detector further configured to provide at least one other signal corresponding to a detected location of at least the pointer tool, wherein the pointer tool is associated with a location of an anatomical feature of interest; accessing at least one computer-readable reconstruction of a trace, the trace corresponding to a geometry of the anatomical feature of interest based on updated detected locations of the pointer tool; superimposing the at least one updatable, computer-readable trace on the second computer-readable reconstruction of the implant.

A tracker system for use in image guided surgery is disclosed. The tracker system may couple to wet tissue and may include a navigation tracker and a base pad that couple to each other. The base pad may be fabricated from a plurality of nonwoven nanofibers. The base pad is configured to couple to body tissue of a patient via at least one of adsorption, hydration equilibrium, and macromolecular interpenetration.

An apparatus for microdisruption of cataracts in lens tissue by impulsive heat deposition comprising: a source of pulsed laser radiation, a user input device, a control circuit, and an optical waveguide configured to transmit the pulsed laser radiation. The light intensity which exits the optical waveguide has a wavelength selected to match an absorption peak of at least one component of the lens tissue, a pulse duration time shorter than a time required for thermal diffusion out of the laser irradiation volume and shorter than a time required for a thermally driven expansion of the laser irradiated volume, and a pulse energy resulting in a peak intensity of each laser pulse below a threshold for ionization-driven ablation to occur.

A patient reference device is provided for use during a medical procedure. The patient reference device includes a housing having a back side and a front side, at least three tracking markers attached to the front side of the housing, the housing extending around the at least three tracking markers and beyond a horizontal plane defined by tops of the at least three tracking markers, the housing terminating at a substantially continuous edge, and a sterile cover attached to the substantially continuous edge of the housing for covering the housing and the tracking markers.

A medical robot system, including a robot coupled to an effectuator element with the robot configured for controlled movement and positioning. The system may include a transmitter configured to emit one or more signals, and the transmitter is coupled to an instrument coupled to the effectuator element. The system may further include a motor assembly coupled to the robot and a plurality of receivers configured to receive the one or more signals emitted by the transmitter. A control unit is coupled to the motor assembly and the plurality of receivers, and the control unit is configured to supply one or more instruction signals to the motor assembly. The instruction signals can be configured to cause the motor assembly to selectively move the effectuator element and is further configured to (i) calculate a position of the at least one transmitter by analysis of the signals received by the plurality of receivers; (ii) display the position of the at least one transmitter with respect to the body of the patient; and (iii) selectively control actuation of the motor assembly in response to the signals received by the plurality of receivers.

Tip confirmation systems and related methods are disclosed. A method of determining one or more properties of a catheter in a patient comprises advancing a catheter in vasculature of a patient, the catheter coupled to at least one radiation source and at least one detector, transmitting source electromagnetic radiation from the at least one radiation source out of the catheter proximate a distal tip thereof, measuring an intensity of backscattered electromagnetic radiation from the at least one radiation source with the at least one detector, and providing a signal indicative of a location of the distal tip within the vasculature based, at least in part, on the measured intensity of the backscattered electromagnetic radiation. Related systems and methods are also disclosed.

An imaging system (10) and related method, where a marker detection system (MDS) detects one or more markers (MK) spatially arranged in association with an area (A). If the marker detection system (MDS) detects that the area (A) is within a field-of-view (FoV) of the imaging system (10) or is at least within a predefined distance thereof, a control signal is issued in respect of said area (A) to an image acquisition system (ACS) of the imaging system (10). The area (A) may be one of a hand (32) of a human operator or a part of a patient (12) to be imaged.