US Patent Issued to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS on March 25 for "Constraint mechanisms, systems, and methods" (California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,257,700, issued on March 25, was assigned to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Constraint mechanisms, systems, and methods" was invented by Grant M. Kadokura (San Diego) and Andrew C. Waterbury (Santa Clara, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A tool includes a transmission mechanism, a shaft, and a rotary device. The shaft is rotatable with reference to the transmission mechanism through a defined range of rotational motion about a first axis of rotation and includes a protrusion extending from the shaft in a direction normal to the first axis of rotation. The rotary device includes a first stop surface, a seco...