Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
7 pending office actions • 4 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 7 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 5 patents granted in the last 365 days
Vicarious Surgical Inc. is navigating 7 pending office actions within the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These matters are spread across 4 distinct art units and involve 6 distinct examiners. This distribution indicates that the portfolio touches multiple specialized examination groups within the USPTO. Practitioners should be prepared to address the specific technical requirements of these 4 distinct art units.
WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA serves as the busiest examiner for the company, with 2 pending office actions under review. The presence of 6 distinct examiners for 7 pending actions suggests that most matters are being evaluated independently. This lack of examiner concentration means that successful strategies in an application may not directly translate to others. With 7 pending office actions in play, the company maintains a diverse set of interactions across its 6 distinct examiners.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 4 (57%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 3 (43%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | 2 | 68.0% | +28.7% |
| NGUYEN, ROBERT T | 1 | 83.4% | +10.9% |
| ADAMS, EILEEN M | 1 | 86.2% | +4.1% |
| HUSSAINI, ATTIYA SAYYADA | 1 | 60.0% | +16.1% |
| CHIN, JAMES BRIAN | 1 | 100.0% | +0.0% |
| LE, KHOA TAN | 1 | 78.0% | +38.2% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18126224 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING AND ENHANCING MOVEMENT OF A SURGICAL ROBOTIC UNIT DURING SURGERY | CHIN, JAMES BRIAN | 28d overdue |
| 19469643 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING ELASTIC CABLE DRIVEN ROBOT JOINTS | NGUYEN, ROBERT T | — |
| 18870953 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STEREOSCOPIC VISUALIZATION IN SURGICAL ROBOTICS WITHOUT REQUIRING GLASSES OR HEADGEAR | ADAMS, EILEEN M | — |
Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17826120 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING A SURGICAL ROBOTIC ASSEMBLY IN AN INTERNAL BODY CAVITY | LE, KHOA TAN | 32d overdue |
| 19469643 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING ELASTIC CABLE DRIVEN ROBOT JOINTS | NGUYEN, ROBERT T | — |
| 18213011 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING A MULTI-TURN ROTARY CONCEPT IN AN ACTUATOR MECHANISM OF A SURGICAL ROBOTIC ARM | HUSSAINI, ATTIYA SAYYADA | — |
| 18095315 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REVERSING ORIENTATION AND VIEW OF SELECTED COMPONENTS OF A MINIATURIZED SURGICAL ROBOTIC UNIT IN VIVO | WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | — |
| 18090983 | ROTATIONAL ACTUATORS FOR SURGICAL ROBOTIC SYSTEMS | WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3792 | 3 |
| 3619 | 1 |
| 3656 | 1 |
| 3771 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19469643 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING ELASTIC CABLE DRIVEN ROBOT JOINTS | NGUYEN, ROBERT T | 3619 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 26, 2025 |
| 18870953 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STEREOSCOPIC VISUALIZATION IN SURGICAL ROBOTICS WITHOUT REQUIRING GLASSES OR HEADGEAR | ADAMS, EILEEN M | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 02, 2024 |
| 18213011 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING A MULTI-TURN ROTARY CONCEPT IN AN ACTUATOR MECHANISM OF A SURGICAL ROBOTIC ARM | HUSSAINI, ATTIYA SAYYADA | 3792 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 22, 2023 |
| 18126224 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING AND ENHANCING MOVEMENT OF A SURGICAL ROBOTIC UNIT DURING SURGERY | CHIN, JAMES BRIAN | 3656 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 28d overdue | Pending | Mar 24, 2023 |
| 18095315 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REVERSING ORIENTATION AND VIEW OF SELECTED COMPONENTS OF A MINIATURIZED SURGICAL ROBOTIC UNIT IN VIVO | WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | 3792 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 10, 2023 |
| 18090983 | ROTATIONAL ACTUATORS FOR SURGICAL ROBOTIC SYSTEMS | WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | 3792 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 29, 2022 |
| 17826120 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING A SURGICAL ROBOTIC ASSEMBLY IN AN INTERNAL BODY CAVITY | LE, KHOA TAN | 3771 | §103 | Final Rejection | 32d overdue | Pending | May 26, 2022 |
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