US Patent Issued to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS on May 13 for "Method and system for retracting an instrument into an entry guide" (California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,295,681, issued on May 13, was assigned to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Method and system for retracting an instrument into an entry guide" was invented by Nicola Diolaiti (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Paul E. Lilagan (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Techniques for retracting an instrument into an entry guide include an entry guide manipulator configured to support an entry guide and an instrument manipulator configured to support an instrument. The robotic system is configured to receive a command indicating a commanded movement of the entry guide in a direction parallel to an insertion axis of th...