Product category:
Linear Position Sensors
News Release from: Variohm Eurosensor | Subject: Celesco linear cable extension position sensors
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 29 September 2000
Robot surgeon uses low-cost cable
extension system
The use of Celesco Linear Cable Extension Position Transducers has introduced major possibilities for advancing surgical techniques, thanks to a collaboration with Intuitive Surgical Inc
The use of Celesco Linear Cable Extension Position Transducers has introduced major possibilities for advancing surgical techniques A ground-breaking new system has been introduced which is the result of a collaboration between Celesco Transducer Products Inc., a world leading manufacturer of cable extension transducers and Intuitive Surgical Inc., a pioneer of minimally intrusive telepresence surgery
The system comprises of a robot surgeon that uses low-cost cable extension technology to perform complicated operation procedures where surgical instruments are inserted through tiny holes in the skin and controlled by a surgeon at a nearby work station looking at a binocular set-up of two, high-resolution TV screens which provide a three-dimensional image of the operation site.
The surgeon sits comfortably at the workstation which is ergonomically designed to reduce fatigue, when he moves his hands, a corresponding response occurs in the surgical instruments connected to the remote surgical robot which has three interconnected arms, one of which carries a stereophonic camera arrangement while the others hold the operating instruments.
In theory at least therefore, it is now possible for surgeons to carry out complex operating procedures on patients in hospitals hundreds or thousands of miles away from the surgeons, so providing a hospital has the robot equipment installed, it can offer patient life saving operations using surgeons who may even be based on other continents.
Pain levels and patient recovery periods are much reduced because the surgical technique is much less intrusive than by traditional methods.
Called daVinci, the system also overcomes any tendency to replicate natural hand tremor, making the operating procedure smooth and accurate, which is essential when performing micro surgery.
The three mechanical arms are mounted one above the other on a central post for initial positioning over the patient.
When positioned on the vertical slide axis, they have a known location with respect to each other.
As the manufacturer required a reliable, high-resolution, cost-effective positioning system, they selected Celesco's cable extension transducer technology because it offered the high-resolution output of a rotary potentiometer in a linear motion axis.
Cable extension transducer technology is a perfect compliment to the daVinci surgery system.
Cable extension transducers consist of a measurement cable, usually stainless steel, wrapped around a spring-loaded drum.
The fixed-position-transducer plays out its cable the end of which secured to a moving object, in this case, the three arms of the surgical robot.
As the arms move up and down the vertical axis, the motion of the cable extending and retracting rotates the spool.
This in turn turns the shaft of a rotational sensor such as a potentiometer, encoder or resolver which alters the electrical output of the transducer.
By this method, linear movement is first changed to a rotational movement and ultimately to an electrical signal.
Cable extension position transducers offer the flexibility demanded by the daVinci system.
Perfect alignment is not necessary, the transducer may be installed away from the motion plane and pulleys used to bring the cable end to the movement plane.
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