Abstract: A surgical instrument with improved end-effector gripping force. The instrument comprises a shaft, which may be inserted into a body of a patient. The articulated end-effector is mounted on the distal extremity of the instrument shaft and comprises a plurality of links interconnected by a plurality of joints, whose movements are remotely actuated by the surgeon's hands. This remote actuation is accomplished through mechanical transmission, mainly along flexible elements, which are able to deliver motion from a set of actuation elements, placed at a proximal extremity of the shaft, to the instrument's articulated end-effector. The articulated end-effector further comprises one or more cam-and-follower mechanisms that are able to amplify the force transmitted by the flexible elements so that the actuation force at the instrument jaws is maximized and the tension on the transmission elements minimized, thus increasing the fatigue resistance and life of the instrument.

Abstract: A system and method for detection and analysis of learner's/performers cognitive flow have been provided. The system is configured to measure the cognitive state of the performer, while they are performing tasks of various complexity levels, using physiological responses like brain activation, heart rate variability and galvanic skin response. The system uses a Bayesian network based framework to probabilistically evaluate the cognitive state of the learner from the difficulty levels of the tasks, IQ level of the learner and observations made using the physiological sensing. The system also measures the actual cognitive state using a questionnaire. The predicted cognitive state and the actual cognitive state is compared and based on the outcome of comparison a relevant step is taken.