Abstract: A robotic system for minimally invasive surgery comprises a robot arm with a robot F/T sensor and a surgical instrument attached thereto. The surgical instrument is disposed in the body cavity of a patient through a trocar which has a trocar F/T sensor integrated therein. The trocar F/T sensor outputs are subtracted from the robot F/T sensor outputs (or vice versa), to remove the effects of forces or torques between the trocar and the patient’s skin, yielding only force or torques applied to the surgical instrument. To perform the subtraction, the reference frames of the two F/T sensors are first aligned. The position of, e.g., the tip of the surgical instrument may be measured or estimated, and the corrected forces or torques may similarly be translated to the reference frame of the surgical instrument tip.

Abstract: A robotic tool changer includes a master-side assembly that couples to a robotic arm, and a tool-side assembly that couples to, and is interposed between, the master-side assembly and a tool used by a robot. Additionally, a locking mechanism and a force/torque sensor are integrated into one of the master-side and tool-side assemblies. The locking mechanism moves between a locked position and an unlocked position to lock and unlock the master-side assembly to and from the tool-side assembly. The force/torque sensor includes sensing structures that elastically deform responsive to an applied force and transducers affixed to the sensing structures. The transducers send electrical signals representing a magnitude and a direction of a detected applied force to a measurement circuit. The force/torque sensor, a part of the locking mechanism, and the master-side or tool-side assembly into which they are integrated may form unitary member.

Abstract: A trocar for minimally-invasive and/or robotic surgery includes integrated multi-axis force and/or torque sensing between the outside environment and a surgical tool that will be inserted into it. The multi-axis force/torque sensing is integrated into the cannula. This allows a robotic surgical system to sense exactly how much force and/or torque the tool is applying to the skin of a patient. The multi-axis sensing is an important advance in robotic surgery, as knowing the directions of forces and torques on the trocar enables compensation for angle misalignment – which cannot be done with only single-axis force detection.

Abstract: The deployable antenna with the tensegrity support structure and mounting frame has improved specific mass, compact stowage volume and high deployment reliability. The reflector is mounted to the tensegrity support structure via the mounting frame which ensures proper deployment of the reflector in the desired antenna operating shape.

Abstract: The deployable antenna with the tensegrity support structure and mounting frame has improved specific mass, compact stowage volume and high deployment reliability. The reflector is mounted to the tensegrity support structure via the mounting frame which ensures proper deployment of the reflector in the desired antenna operating shape.