Patent ID: 9522003
Filing Date: 2016-12-20
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A method of calibrating a clamping instrument, comprising: acquiring a data set of clamping torque as a function of tip deflection data for the clamping instrument wherein the; clamping instrument comprises: a clamping end effector including a first jaw and a second jaw, at least one of the first jaw and the second jaw being configured to receive a cartridge including one or more staples for firing; a wrist coupled to the clamping end effector; an instrument shaft coupled to the wrist; a chassis coupled to couplers that run through the instrument shaft and manipulate a separation between the first jaw and the second jaw of the clamping end effector, the chassis including a mechanical converter that receives rotational torque from one or more motors in a motor assembly and couples the rotational torque to the couplers; a memory in which one or more parameters are stored, the one or more parameters being calibrated for the clamping instrument and including a full clamp condition associated with driving the separation between the first jaw and the second jaw of the clamping end effector, wherein firing of staples is disallowed if the first jaw and the second jaw of the clamping end effector cannot be driven to a threshold separation distance without the rotational torque exceeding a torque limit; and electronics coupled to the memory and providing an interface to the memory; determining a torque limit from the data set; and storing the torque limit in the clamping instrument.