A surgical instrument comprising an end effector is disclosed. The end effector comprises a surgical dissector. The surgical dissector can apply mechanical and/or electrosurgical energy to treated tissue.

A surgical instrument comprising a housing, an elongate shaft defining a longitudinal axis, an end effector, a firing member, and a laminate firing actuator connected to the firing member is disclosed. The elongate shaft comprises an articulation joint defining an articulation axis that is transverse to the longitudinal axis, a first lateral buckling support positioned on a first side of the articulation joint, and a second lateral buckling support positioned on a second side of the articulation joint. The laminate firing actuator extends through the articulation joint. The laminate firing actuator extends intermediate the first lateral buckling support and the second lateral buckling support. The first lateral buckling support and the second lateral buckling support engage the laminate firing actuator when the end effector is articulated about the articulation joint.

A medical device includes a handle including a first slot, a first control device movable within the first slot in a proximal direction and a distal direction, and a sheath extending from the handle and having a longitudinal axis, the sheath defining a first lumen extending from the handle to a distal end of the sheath. A first tube extends within the first lumen, the first tube is connected to the first control device and moves between a first position, where a distalmost end of the first tube is flush with or proximal of a distalmost end of the sheath, and a second position, where the distalmost end of the first tube is positioned distal of the distalmost end of the sheath. The first slot extends parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sheath.

A welded structure, in which a second tubular member is welded to an inner circumference of a first tubular member made of metal, the second tubular member being made of metal and having an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the first tubular member, includes welded portions at which a portion of the first tubular member and a portion of the second tubular member are melted and solidified, a surface melted and solidified from an inner circumferential surface side of the first tubular member toward an end surface of the second tubular member forms a smoothly-continuous curved surface, and the first and the second tubular members are bonded to each other. A portion of each of the welded portions is located on an outside of a projection region obtained by projecting the second tubular member onto an outer surface of the first tubular member.

A medical instrument system includes actuators, a medical instrument, and a control system operably connected to the actuators. The medical instrument includes an end portion and transmission systems, each of which couples the end portion to an actuator of the actuators such that the actuators are operable to drive the transmission systems to move the end portion. The control system is configured to execute operations including determining a difference between a current configuration of the end portion and a desired configuration of the end portion, and operating the actuators to apply tensions to the transmission systems based on the difference and based on constant offset tensions. The constant offset tensions are independent of current tensions experienced by the transmission systems.

The present application provides an endoscopic device having at least one shaft, which has at least one portion deflectable in at least one plane, and having at least one deflection mechanism, which is configured to deflect the deflectable portion and includes, arranged in series, at least one first connection member and at least one second connection member interacting for a deflection with the first connection member. The first connection member is formed at least partially from a first material, and the second connection member is formed at least partially from a second material, of which the elasticity differs from that of the first material.

A medical manipulator includes a flexible shaft, a distal-end portion, an operating unit with which the distal-end portion is operated, a wire transmitting a motive force of the unit to the distal-end portion, a coil formed from a material having a greater rigidity than the shaft and one end thereof being secured to the distal-end portion and the other end thereof being secured to the unit, and a tube having a greater bending rigidity than the coil. The unit includes a socket connected to the shaft, a ball relatively rotatable to the socket, and a handle with which the wire is pushed/pulled in the longitudinal direction, the coil is disposed at a position at which the coil covers an area surrounding the wire, and the tube is disposed at a position at which the tube covers an area surrounding the coil in spaces in the socket and the ball.

A surgical tool for use with a robotic system that includes a tool drive assembly that is operatively coupled to a control unit of the robotic system that is operable by inputs from an operator and is configured to robotically-generate output motions. A drive system is configured to interface with a corresponding portion of the tool drive assembly for receiving the robotically-generated output motions and applying the output motions to a drive shaft assembly which is configured to apply control motions to a surgical end effector operably coupled thereto. A manually-actuatable control system operably interfaces with the drive shaft assembly to facilitate the selective application of manually-generated control motions to the drive shaft assembly.

Certain aspects relate to systems and techniques for articulating medical instruments. In one aspect, the instrument includes a wrist having at least two degrees of freedom of movement, and an end effector coupled to the wrist. The end effector can include an upper jaw, a lower jaw, and a firing mechanism configured to form staples in tissue. Actuation of the firing mechanism can be decoupled from the movement of the wrist in the at least two degrees of freedom.

A method for adjusting the operation of a surgical instrument using machine learning in a surgical suite is disclosed.