Abstract: The disclosed invention relates to an improved system and method for treatment of soft tissue, e.g., for treatment of a snoring condition. The system can include a laser source; a hand piece; and a device for directing radiation emitted by the laser source to a treatment area (e.g., an oral treatment area). In some cases, the handpiece can include an optical element (e.g., a lens) mounted within a replaceable cartridge and adapted to modulate a laser beam such that it is non-ablative, prior to its delivery to a treatment region. In various embodiments, the system includes a CO2 laser capable of performing treatment in a more efficient manner than conventional techniques.

Abstract: Provided is an optical tracking tool for navigating a surgery, comprising a mounting base. The mounting base is provided with two to six supporting faces thereon. Two or four reflective balls are arranged on each of the supporting faces. A positioning surface is formed by the four reflective balls located on the same supporting face or the four reflective balls respectively located on two adjacent supporting faces. An included angle between surface normal vectors of two adjacent positioning surfaces is 90°-140°. As compared with a tracking tool having a single positioning surface formed by four reflective balls in the prior art, the optical tracking tool can considerably broaden an effective tracking range of a system, thereby improving system accuracy.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an ophthalmic treatment apparatus and a method for controlling same. The ophthalmic treatment apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an image unit for generating an image of the retina area of an eyeball in a horizontal direction with respect to the plane of the focal spot of a therapeutic beam directed by a beam delivery unit; a pattern unit for providing a grid pattern to the retina area so as to correspond to the curvature of the retina area generated by the image unit; and a control unit for controlling the operation of a beam generation unit and the beam delivery unit to radiate the therapeutic beam to the intersection points of the grid pattern on the basis of the grid pattern provided by the pattern unit.

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.