Abstract: A control system for a capsule endoscope is provided. The control system includes a balance arm device, a mechanical arm, a permanent magnet and a 2-DOF rotary platform. The bottom of the balance arm device is fixed, and the active end of the balance arm device connects with a boom. The bottom of the mechanical arm is fixed, and the active end of the mechanical arm connects with a spherical hinge. The 2-DOF rotary platform is fixed below the boom and the permanent magnet is located in the 2-DOF rotary platform. The spherical hinge connects to the boom, assisting the permanent magnet to move around a fan-shaped area around a subject.

Abstract: A flexible endoscope of the present invention includes a catheter portion and a connection plug. The catheter portion includes an image guide, a light guide, and a catheter tube that surrounds the image guide and the light guide in a longitudinal direction, and the connection plug includes a hollow cover that accommodates the proximal end of the catheter tube, a flexible tube that protrudes from the hollow cover and through which the catheter tube is passed, a first connection terminal that is connected to the light guide extending from the proximal end of the catheter tube, and a second connection terminal that is connected to the image guide extending from the proximal end of the catheter tube. The image guide and the light guide are slidable inside the catheter tube, and at least one of the image guide and the light guide is arranged curved inside the hollow cover of the connection plug.

Abstract: The present specification describes a method for determining the distance of an object from the tip of an endoscope during an endoscopic procedure, wherein at least one lens is configured to converge light from outside the tip onto a sensor that includes a plurality of photodiodes a portion of which are adjacent pairs of photodiodes configured to be phase detection pixels. The method includes receiving light into each adjacent pair of photodiodes, wherein said light is reflected off a surface of said object; determining a first response curve to said light for a first photodiode of said adjacent pair of photodiodes and a second response curve to said light for a second photodiode of said adjacent pair of photodiodes; identifying an intersection between the first response curve and the second response curve; and using data derived from said intersection to determine said distance to the object.

Abstract: An optical bulb for a medical device includes first and second bodies. The first body has a substantially hemispherical distal side. The second body extends from the first body and includes a mechanical connection point at or near the proximal side of the second body. An instrument channel extends through the optical bulb from the proximal side of the second body to the distal side of the first body. An imaging channel extends an aperture defined in the proximal side of the second body and terminates between the proximal and substantially hemispherical distal sides of the first body. The distal end of the imaging channel is substantially hemispherical. The first body is configured and arranged to provide a substantially uniform image path within a field of view of a camera disposed in the imaging channel.

Abstract: The technology disclosed herein is directed to a medical manipulator system having a medical device. The medical device such as endoscope or other surgical instrument includes an elongated insertion portion. A holder assembly includes an articulated arm carrying the medical device that is attached thereto and is actuated following movement of the medical device and holds the medical device in a stationary state at a desired position. A position/attitude detection unit detects positions and attitudes of the elongated insertion portion in plurality states into which the medical device is caused to swing about a constraint point. A constraint point estimation unit estimates a position of the constraint point based on the positions and attitudes of the insertion portion as detected by the position/attitude detection unit.

Abstract: There is provided a surgical controlling device including an exposure controlling section that performs exposure control based on a luminance detection value detected from a biological image, in which the exposure controlling section corrects, on the basis of information regarding an identified surgical optical device, the luminance detection value so as to correct luminance unevenness arising from the surgical optical device. Further, there is provided a control method including performing, by a processor, exposure control based on a luminance detection value detected from a biological image, in which the performing the exposure control further includes correcting the luminance detection value so as to correct, based on information regarding an identified surgical optical device, luminance unevenness arising from the surgical optical device.

Abstract: The present technology relates to a surgical system and a surgical imaging device enabled to reduce latency. The surgical imaging device generates a surgical image by imaging the inside of a living body, a signal processing device performs predetermined signal processing on the surgical image, and a display device displays the surgical image on which the signal processing is performed. The imaging device generates the surgical image on the basis of scan information indicating a scan order of the surgical image. The present technology can be applied to, for example, an endoscopic surgical system.

Abstract: A medical observation system includes a multi-link structure in which a plurality of links is mutually coupled by joint parts, a medical observation apparatus attached on the multi-link structure, a control part configured to control the multi-link structure or the medical observation apparatus, and a user interface part by which a user inputs an instruction to change a visual field of the medical observation apparatus. When a user instructs to move a visual field of the medical observation apparatus vertically or horizontally, to rotate an oblique-viewing endoscope, or to change a magnification of the visual field via the user interface part, the control part controls the multi-link structure or the medical observation apparatus.

Abstract: Disclosed herein a haptic handling system for tele-robotic surgery. The haptic handling system may include a main body, a fine-tuning roll mechanism, and a grasp control mechanism. The main body may include a first hollow cylindrical section and a second hollow cylindrical section. The fine-tuning roll mechanism may include a knob, a roller coupled to the knob, and a roll encoder coupled to the roller. The grasp control mechanism may include a slider comprising an internal slider and an external slider, a lead screw coupled to the slider, and a grasp encoder coupled to the lead screw. The haptic handling system may further include a force feedback system comprising one or more dynamometers measuring a magnitude and a direction of a couple and a force applied to a surgical tool, a roll actuator coupled to the roller, and a grasp actuator coupled to the lead screw.

Abstract: A medical device holding apparatus having a first arm with a holding portion to hold a medical device; a second arm connected to the rotatable first arm; a base connected to the rotatable second arm and having a support shaft standing in a vertical direction; and a first counterweight portion connected to the second arm, wherein the second arm has a fulcrum around which the second arm is rotatable, and the first counterweight has a slit being connected to the proximal end portion of the second arm for guiding the proximal end portion of the second arm when the second arm is rotated around the fulcrum; and a guide for moving the first counterweight in the vertical direction after the guide receives a force generated when the proximal end portion of the second arm is guided and moved in the slit.

Abstract: A hybrid apparatus for delivery of fluid in connection with endoscopic irrigation and lens cleaning including a connector which is adaptable to a flexible or rigid container, a connector arranged at the end thereof and connected via a tubing supply to a fluid, air and or gas source and to an endoscope during a procedure.

Abstract: A master-slave system that includes a first manipulator supporting a first end effector; a second manipulator supporting a second end effector; an input device configured to concurrently receive from a hand of an operator a first movement command to effect a desired movement of the first end effector and a second movement command to effect a desired movement of the second end effector; and a processor configured to determine a desired movement of the first and the second end effectors in response to the first and second movement commands received from the input device respectively.

Abstract: A wireless endoscopic camera system includes a surgical endoscope for viewing tissue within a patient, an imager for converting an optical image viewed by the endoscope into digital image data, a processor for processing the digital image data, a transmitter for establishing at least one wireless link to a remote receiver and conveying the processed digital image data over the at least one wireless link, and a plurality of antennas of a camera head that are in communication with the transmitter for receiving the digital image data from the transmitter and wirelessly relaying the digital image data to the remote receiver.

Abstract: Aspects of a device are described. One aspect is a device comprising: a housing having a first portion engageable with a scope, and a second portion engageable with a handle of a retrieval device; a platform that is movable relative to the housing, and engageable with a slider of the retrieval device; and a link assembly that is coupled the housing and the platform, and operable to move the platform and slider relative to the housing and handle. Aspects of related devices and systems also are described.

Abstract: A system includes a controller communicatively coupled to an illuminator and to a camera configured to capture a scene including tissue. The controller may change the output optical power of the illuminator from a first output optical power to a second output optical power so that a subsequently captured frame is captured by the camera from reflected light, the reflected light being light from the illuminator having the second output optical power prior to being reflected. The controller may determine that an endoscope contacted the tissue if the change of the output optical power of the illuminator results in a change of a reflected luminance that is less than a predetermined threshold, the change of the reflected luminance being a change from a first reflected luminance for the first output optical power to a second reflected luminance for the second output optical power.

Abstract: A remote manipulator system according to the invention for carrying out manipulations in a body-internal cavity comprises a manipulator apparatus with a motor-driven actuator mechanism for moving at least two endoscope apparatuses that are insertable through a respective access opening into the body-internal cavity, said endoscope apparatuses each having an elongate shaft (3), wherein the at least two endoscope apparatuses are each displaceable along a longitudinal direction and pivotable about a pivot point (10) defined by the respective access opening, an operating apparatus (21, 71) with at least two control elements (22, 22?, 22?, 33, 72, 72?, 72?, 73), which each have an elongate shaft (23, 23?), wherein the at least two control elements (22, 22?, 22?, 33, 72, 72?, 72?, 73) are each, in manual fashion, displaceable in the direction of a longitudinal axis and pivotable about a pivot point (30), and a controller (75) which is embodied to detect a respective longitudinal displacement and pivot movement of t

Abstract: An endoscope includes an image pick-up device at a distal end part of an insertion part capable of being inserted into a body cavity. The image pick-up device includes a lens barrel that holds an imaging lens; an image sensor having a rectangular shape as an outer peripheral shape of the image reception surface on which imaging light incident via the imaging lens; and a sensor holder that holds the image sensor in a state where the image reception surface intersects a longitudinal direction of the insertion part. The sensor holder has a fitting part fitted to the lens barrel, and an extending wall part that extends in the longitudinal direction of the insertion part from the fitting part to cover at least a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the image sensor, and the fitting part and the extending wall part are integrally configured.

Abstract: Provided is an image processing device including: an image processing unit that generates image data for output from a captured image of an inside of a body cavity of a patient photographed by an endoscope. The image processing unit generates the image data in a manner that, when a lens barrel of the endoscope is moved in an optical axis direction of an objective lens during photographing, a display range in the captured image that is a range expressed in a display image displayed on a display device does not change, during the movement and after the movement, from a display range before the movement.

Abstract: A body-insertable apparatus includes an image sensor including a first pixel configured to receive light of a first wavelength band and to generate a first signal, a second pixel configured to receive light of a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band and to generate a second signal, and a third pixel configured to receive a third wavelength band different from the first and second wavelength bands and to generate a third signal; and a processor comprising hardware, the processor being configured to allocate part of at least one of the first signal and the second signal to the third signal, when first light is received on the first and second pixels, the first light including at least one of the light of the first wavelength band and the light of the second wavelength band and excluding the light of the third wavelength band.

Abstract: An endoscope system 10 includes: an image acquiring unit 54 that acquires an endoscope image obtained by imaging an observation target; a baseline information calculating unit 86 that calculates baseline information by using the endoscope image or a display endoscope image 101 generated by using the endoscope image, the baseline information being information about light scattering characteristics or light absorbing characteristics of the observation target and information that is at least not dependent on particular biological information; an imaging scene determination unit 87 that determines the imaging scene by using the baseline information; and a condition setting unit 88 that sets a condition for imaging or image processing, by using a determination result of the imaging scene determination unit.