Remote center of motion robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12465336-B2
Application number	US-202117404741-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2021
Priority date	May 4, 2016
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention provides a remote center of motion robot. The RCM here is a parallelogram bar type RCM mechanism with a novel joint arrangement. The novel joint arrangement facilitates the mounting of the medical instrument and offers improved clearance relative to the patient. Moreover, the robot was built to guide a bone biopsy cannula, needle, or drill. Even though exact interventional values are unknown, it is expected that the forces exerted laterally on the needle-guide are higher than those encountered for slender needle insertion into soft tissue. For this, the RCM has been built with novel structure to enhance stiffness.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A robot comprising:
a remote center of motion (RCM) mechanism having a parallelogram structure comprising non-collinear joints, and wherein the non-collinear joints are connected by links, such that the links form sides of the parallelogram structure and the non-collinear joints form vertices of the parallelogram structure, and wherein the joints are configured for non collinear pivoting in both vertical and horizontal planes, and wherein the RCM comprises a base for the parallelogram structure; wherein an instrument for use with the robot is aligned between a joint of the non-collinear joints and an RCM point of the RCM mechanism; and, an actuation module having a motor and a harmonic drive configured for generating motion in the RCM mechanism and for rotating the base of the parallelogram structure about an axis that passes the RCM point.

2 . The robot of claim 1 , wherein the parallelogram structure includes redundant parallelogram components.

3 . The robot of claim 1 wherein the RCM further comprises two degrees-of-freedom.

4 . The robot of claim 3 further comprising a first set of joints of the non-collinear joints (A, A 1 , and A 2 ) a second set of joints of the non-collinear joints (B, B 1 , and B 2 ), and a third set of base joints (O, O 1 , and O 2 , where O is the RCM point) wherein a first distance between A and A 1 is less than a distance between B and B 1 and a second distance between A 1 and A 2 is less than a second distance between and B 1 and B 2 .

5 . The robot of claim 1 further comprising a support arm configured to attach to a table and provide rotation about a vertical axis.

6 . The robot of claim 1 further comprising a needle-guide.

7 . The robot of claim 6 wherein the needle-guide can be engaged and detached from a fixture through a bag.

8 . The robot of claim 6 further comprising a ring configured to be placed over a needle, such that the ring allows for a depth of needle insertion to be preset.

9 . The robot of claim 8 further comprising a device to preset a position of the ring wherein the device comprises a motor to set a depth position and copy it onto the position of the ring.

10 . The robot of claim 9 further comprising a remote device configured for setting a depth of needle insertion.

11 . The robot of claim 1 wherein the robot is configured to be safe for use with magnetic resonance (MR).

Assignees

• Univ Johns Hopkins

Inventors

• Stoianovici Dan
• Petrisor Doru
• Jun Changhan
• Lim Sunghwan

Classifications

• A61B5/055

  involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging · CPC title

• B25J9/003

  having parallel kinematics · CPC title

• A61B2010/0208

  Biopsy devices with actuators, e.g. with triggered spring mechanisms · CPC title

• A61B2090/506

  using a parallelogram linkage, e.g. panthograph · CPC title

• A61B90/50

  Supports for surgical instruments, e.g. articulated arms · CPC title