US Patent Issued to Intuitive Surgical Operations on July 15 for "Sterile barrier between surgical instrument and teleoperated actuator" (California, Connecticut Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,357,408, issued on July 15, was assigned to Intuitive Surgical Operations Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Sterile barrier between surgical instrument and teleoperated actuator" was invented by Tyler J. Morrissette (Old Lyme, Conn.), Gregory W. Dachs II (San Mateo, Calif.) and Bruce Michael Schena (Menlo Park, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An instrument sterile drape includes a plastic sheet and a pouch sealed to a first opening in the plastic sheet. The pouch is shaped to fit around a carriage that includes actuators and may be shaped to provide a loose form fit around the carriage. A stiffener is coupled to the pouch around a second ...