Patent attributes
A surgical instrument is disclosed. The surgical instrument comprises an end effector, an elongate shaft assembly, a housing, a rotatable drive screw, a firing member configured to be advanced during a firing cycle by the rotatable drive screw, and a sled member configured to be advanced during the firing cycle to eject staples from a staple cartridge to form a staple pattern At least a portion of the sled member is positioned distal to the staple pattern at a completion of the firing cycle. The housing comprises a plurality of rotatable disks couplable to a robotic device. The surgical instrument further comprises means for closing the end effector to a clamped position and opening the end effector to an unclamped position. The means is coupled to a first one of the plurality of rotatable disks.