Universal Surgical Tool Exchange and Identification System

Unmet Need
The role robotics play in surgery is growing because of the benefits it offers to patient outcome, surgeon comfort and duration of surgery. During conventional (non-robotic) surgery, surgeons are accustomed to having a reliable grip on the hand tool and being able to rapidly swap the tools with another one when needed by the help of an OR assistant. Introduction of a robotic system that uses the same conventional tools into the OR has many potential benefits to patient outcome, surgeon comfort and duration of surgery depending on the capabilities of the system, but may severely disturb the conventional workflow, thus limiting the adoption of the system.
 
Technology Overview
The Universal Surgical Tool Exchanger combines the potential benefits of utilizing a robot in the OR with a system that has minimal impact on the surgical workflow that surgeons are accustomed to. This technology allows surgeons to maintain their natural grip on the tools as to have minimal impact on the surgical workflow. The equipment also creates a reliable repeatable connection between the equipment and the tools used by the surgeon to allow for easy quick tool changes. The use of a tag and receiver also allows the technology to identify which tools it is holding.
 
Stage of Development
The Universal Surgical Tool Exchanger is already developed for use and has undergone trials. When 5 subjects with no training were told to swap 3 tools successfully using the technology, each subject completed the task in under 5 seconds with an average subject time of 3.5 seconds.

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