Abstract: Several solutions are described for making it easier to move a surgical robotics patient table, either from rest or to turn it. The table has a base, a support, and a table top on which the patient is supported. A number of casters are mounted to a body of the base. In one case, controllable jacks lift the body to release the casters thereby allowing them to swivel to a desired orientation. In another case, a drive assembly is rotatably coupled to the body of the base and includes an electric drive motor and a drive wheel to drive the table across the floor. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

Abstract: A method and means for automatically inventorying items having coded tags or labels using a character-recognition device, such as a wand scanner, in combination with a system for specially marking the labels when they have been successfully read and recorded by the scanner, which system comprises the use of a photosensitive dye-forming material on the label and an ultraviolet light-producing flash device on the scanner. The flash device is actuated upon the successful completion of a recognition reading and irradiates the label with ultraviolet light which produces a visible and permanent mark on the label.