Endoscope manipulator and method for controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11633087-B2
Application number	US-201916533866-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2019
Priority date	Aug 7, 2018
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

An endoscope manipulator for performing robot-assisted endoscope manipulation comprises a movable robot base with a hollow trunk and a vertical lifting joint; a passive joint set with one end mounted to an upper end of the vertical lifting joint, for manually setting an initial pose of the endoscope; an active joint set mounted to another end of the passive joint set, for adjusting pose control of the endoscope intra-operatively; and a compliant endoscope holder mountable to an end-effector of the active joint set, which passively changes to a compliant state upon an external force exceeding a threshold being applied to an endoscopic lens held by the compliant endoscope holder.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An endoscope manipulator for performing robot-assisted endoscope manipulation, comprising:
a movable robot base with a hollow trunk and a vertical lifting joint;
a passive joint set with one end mounted to an upper end of the vertical lifting joint, for manually setting an initial pose of an endoscope;
an active joint set mounted to another end of the passive joint set, for adjusting pose control of the endoscope intra-operatively;
a compliant endoscope holder mountable to an end-effector of the active joint set, which passively changes to a compliant state upon an external force exceeding a threshold being applied to an endoscopic lens held by the compliant endoscope holder; and
an adapter unit provided between the passive joint set and the active joint set, the adapter unit including a male plate and a female plate for mounting the passive joint set and the active joint set respectively, wherein the adapter unit has a pair of mounting plates that mechanically and electrically connect the active joint set to the passive joint set with a three-step quick installation process: inserting, rotating and screw tightening.

2. The endoscope manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the robot base is movable by using a push-and-move handler.

3. The endoscope manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the passive joint set comprises:
five non-actuated serial joints which form a compact cantilever structure to free up an operating space near the robot, while providing five-degree-of-freedom preoperative position and orientation adjustment of the endoscopic lens adjacent to a patient.

4. The endoscope manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the active joint set comprises:
a revolute joint that uses worm gear and wheel transmission to compact;
a curvilinear gear rack that provides a rotation relative to a remote centre of curvature; and
an L-shaped end-effector,
wherein each of the revolute joint, the curvilinear gear rack and the end-effector is equipped with an actuator which is controllable by a user for manipulation of the endoscopic lens during surgical procedures, and combined motions of the active joint set form a remote centre-of-motion placed on a patient's nostril for reduced movement inside the patient's nasal cavity.

5. The endoscope manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the compliant endoscope holder comprises:
a mounting slide set;
a compliant joint;
a lens shaft locking ring;
wherein each of the mounting slide set, the compliant joint and the lens shaft locking ring has a hollow shaft to be inserted through by the endoscopic lens, when the external force applied perpendicular to a mounted endoscopic lens exceeds a pre-determined value, a tip of the endoscopic lens becomes movable with the compliant endoscope holder, which becomes the compliant state from a rigid state in which the tip of the endoscopic lens is not movable from external force.

6. The endoscope manipulator of claim 5 , wherein the mounting slide set further comprises a set of sliding slot and stock with a locking bolt for quick installation and auto-locking of the compliant endoscope holder in position.

7. The endoscope manipulator of claim 5 , wherein the compliant joint comprises a set of friction plate and friction head which contact each other to provide a pre-determined maximum static friction force.

8. The endoscope manipulator of claim 5 , wherein the compliant joint comprises a universal joint with one side fixed with the friction head and circumferentially mounted by a spring which makes the endoscopic lens rotatable with respect to the endoscope holder, with the universal joint being stretched to 0-degree along lateral direction in natural condition.

9. The endoscope manipulator of claim 5 , wherein the lens shaft locking ring includes a hollow shaft and a tightening screw to manually constrain an axial rotation of a shaft of the endoscopic lens inserted therein.

10. The endoscope manipulator of claim 1 , further comprising:
a foot-mounted wireless control interface implemented with a foot gesture control scheme;
wherein, when the control interface is worn on the user's foot, foot gestures of the user are detected and recognized by the control interface and transmitted to a processor of the endoscope manipulator, so as to generate corresponding moving commands to motion of the active joint set.

11. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein the control interface is wirelessly communicated with the processor via Bluetooth.

12. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme provides a set of pre-programmed foot control gestures to allow the user to master a pose of the endoscopic lens in hands-free manner intraoperatively.

13. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme includes enabling/disabling foot control by doing plantarflexion twice.

14. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme includes changing currently-controlled joint by doing inversion/eversion of the foot.

15. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme includes moving a position of currently-controlled joint by plantarflexion followed by swing left/right of the user's heel.

16. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme allows moving one active joint via a constant velocity at an instant time.

17. The endoscope manipulator of claim 10 , wherein all pre-defined foot control gestures keep the user's wearing foot on the ground without totally airborne.

18. A method for controlling the endoscope manipulator of claim 1 , comprising:
providing a foot-mounted wireless control interface implemented with a foot gesture control scheme;
detecting and recognizing foot gestures of the user by the control interface; and
transmitting the recognized foot gestures to a processor of the endoscope manipulator to generate corresponding moving commands to motion of the active joint set.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme provides a set of pre-programmed foot control gestures to allow the user to master a pose of the endoscopic lens in hands-free manner intraoperatively.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme includes enabling/disabling foot control by doing plantarflexion twice.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme includes changing currently-controlled joint by doing inversion/eversion of the foot.

22. The method of claim 18 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme includes moving a position of currently-controlled joint by plantarflexion followed by swing left/right of the user's heel.

23. The method of claim 18 , wherein the foot gesture control scheme allows moving one active joint via a constant velocity at an instant time.

24. The method of claim 18 , wherein all pre-defined foot control gestures keep the user's wearing foot on ground without totally airborne.

Assignees

• Univ Hong Kong Chinese

Inventors

• Liu Yunhui
• Tong Chi-Fai Michael
• Zhong Fangxun
• Wang Zerui
• Yip Hiu-Man

Classifications

• A61B1/0016

  using motor drive units · CPC title

• A61B2034/301

  for introducing or steering flexible instruments inserted into the body, e.g. catheters or endoscopes · CPC title

• A61B34/70

  Manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery · CPC title

• A61B1/00149 Primary

  using articulated arms · CPC title

• A61B34/30

  Surgical robots · CPC title