Patent ID: 9291793
Filing Date: 2016-03-22
CPC Classification: A61B,B25J,G02B,Y10T

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus for supporting a medical robotic manipulator, the apparatus comprising: a linkage having a first end coupled to a support structure, the first end of the linkage to rotate about a vertical axis, the linkage to support a medical robotic manipulator applied to a second end of the linkage opposite the first end; a balancing mechanism coupled to the linkage around a pivotal joint, the balancing mechanism including a compression spring, a cable, and a plurality of pulleys, wherein at least one pulley of the plurality of pulleys is concentric with the pivotal joint, the balancing mechanism to counter balance the medical robotic manipulator; and wherein as the second end of the linkage is moved up and down, the position of the medical robotic manipulator is varied vertically and horizontally with a varying moment arm length but without varying a weight of the medical robotic manipulator, the balancing mechanism varies a cable path length to modify the compression of the compression spring and the tension in the cable to adjust a counter balance force applied to the linkage while a sum of wrap angles of the cable around the plurality of pulleys is substantially constant.