公开(公告)号：US20210268233A1

公开(公告)日：2021-09-02

申请号：US17254122

申请日：2019-06-19

Applicant: INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC.

Inventor： Joseph D. BOGUSKY ,  Randall L. SCHLESINGER

IPC: A61M25/01

Abstract: Disclosed herein are a range of stiffening mechanisms or systems that assist or enable holding a pose or shape of a flexible body (1010, 216, 410, 420, 801). These stiffening mechanisms may be part of the steering mechanism (500, 800), may be separately actuated and/or may themselves also enable steering of the flexible elongate device (400). Further, the stiffening mechanisms may use information from sensor (826) systems, such as a shape sensor (222, 314, 426) in the form of an optical fiber, a plurality of EM sensors (426, 826) distributed along the length of a flexible device, and/or navigation systems, such as a sensor system (108) that computes the approximate location of medical instruments (such as a flexible body) within the anatomy of the patient and/or medical tools that are delivered through a main lumen (411, 811) of the flexible body (1010, 216, 410, 420, 801), to inform a control system (112, 116) which then controls formation and holding of a shape of the flexible body (1010, 216, 410, 420, 801).