ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,667,245, issued on June 30.
"Motorized endoscopic instrument drive module" was invented by Amir Taefi (Sacramento, Calif.) and Albert K Chin (Palo Alto, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A module for feeding and withdrawing an endoscopy operating instrument into/from an endoscope to prevent injury to tissue. The module includes an interface for removably attaching to an endoscope. The module includes a motor that drives a pair of wheels to advance the instrument into the endoscope. The wheels may be constrained on their sides to prevent binding when gripping the instrument. The motor may be turned on by a user operated button or a se...