U.S. Patent 8602288 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2013-12-10 and describes a “Robotically-controlled motorized surgical end effector system with rotary actuated closure systems having variable actuation speeds.” This patent has been cited 311 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

A surgical tool for use with a robotic system includes an end effector comprising at least one component portion selectively movable between first and second positions and a shaft including an axially movable portion in operable communication with the at least one selectively movable component portion and a rotatably movable portion in operable engagement with the axially movable portion. An initial rotation of the rotatably movable portion causes the axially movable portion to move the selectively movable component portion from the first position into an intermediate position at a first rate. A subsequent rotation of the rotatably movable portion in a same direction causes the axially movable portion to move the selectively movable component portion from the intermediate position to the second position at a second rate different from the first rate. Link: U.S. Patent 8602288

This patent was originally filed on 2012-02-09 which gives it a processing time of 670 days, compared to an average processing time of 575 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Gary W. Knight of Westchester, IL. The primary examiner was Alexandra Elve.

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