Patent ID: 8083667

Claim:
A surgical instrument assembly comprising: a guide tube comprising a proximal end, a distal end, and an intermediate position between the proximal and distal ends, wherein a longitudinal axis extends between the proximal and distal ends; a surgical instrument comprising a proximal body segment having a longitudinal axis, a parallel motion mechanism coupled to the proximal body segment, and a distal end coupled to the parallel motion mechanism, wherein the surgical instrument passes through the guide tube, wherein a part of the surgical instrument exits and extends out of the guide tube at the intermediate position, wherein the part of the surgical instrument extends out generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the guide tube at the intermediate position, wherein the part of the surgical instrument that extends out of the guide tube includes at least a distal end of the proximal body segment, the parallel motion mechanism, and the distal end of the surgical instrument, wherein the parallel motion mechanism comprises a first joint connected to the distal end of the proximal body segment, an elongate rigid distal body segment connected to the first joint, and a second joint connected to the elongate rigid distal body segment and to the distal end of the surgical instrument, wherein a first tendon is connected between a proximal portion of the first joint and a distal portion of the second joint, a second tendon is connected between the proximal portion of the first joint and the distal portion of the second joint, and the first and second tendons pass through the elongate rigid distal body segment, and wherein the parallel motion mechanism heaves and sways the distal end of the surgical instrument with reference to the longitudinal axis of the proximal body segment without changing pitch and yaw of the distal end of the surgical instrument; and a stereoscopic image capture component positioned on the guide tube between the intermediate position and the distal end of the guide tube, wherein a field of view of the image capture component is generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the guide tube near the image capture component.