6DOF Haptic Interface Without Gimbal Weight for Surgical Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing haptic user interfaces for surgical systems lack the capability to provide orientation haptics and are cumbersome due to the use of heavy gimbal mechanisms, leading to increased power consumption, larger motors, and mechanical disadvantages, which complicates the manipulation of surgical instruments with multiple degrees of freedom.
Innovation Solution
A powered 6DOF haptic user interface that eliminates the need for a powered gimbal mechanism, reducing cantilevered weight and simplifying cabling, while using smaller motors and providing orientation haptic feedback through a linkage system with electric motors and sensors to reconstruct handle position and orientation, allowing control of surgical instruments with six degrees of freedom.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a heavy gimbal mechanism is used to provide haptic feedback, then haptic feedback capability is improved, but device weight and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the heavy powered gimbal mechanism from the user interface system. Instead of using a traditional gimbal to provide haptic feedback, the invention uses a 6DOF robotic manipulator with electric motors and sensors to reconstruct handle position and orientation, providing haptic feedback through a different mechanical architecture that does not require a gimbal.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical gimbal-based haptic feedback system with an electrically-driven 6DOF robotic system. The new system uses electric motors, linkages, and sensors to achieve haptic feedback, substituting the traditional mechanical gimbal approach with an electromechanical system that reduces weight and complexity.
2Reliability
If a powered gimbal mechanism is used for haptic feedback, then haptic feedback is provided, but device complexity and cabling requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the complex powered gimbal mechanism from the system. The haptic feedback capability is maintained through a simplified 6DOF robotic manipulator system that uses electric motors and sensors directly integrated into the handle, eliminating the need for a separate gimbal assembly and its associated complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The 6DOF robotic manipulator serves multiple functions: it provides the mechanical linkage structure, houses the electric motors for actuation, contains the sensors for position and orientation reconstruction, and delivers haptic feedback. This multi-functional integration eliminates the need for separate gimbal components and reduces overall system complexity.
3Force
If larger motors are used to compensate for cantilevered weight, then haptic feedback force is improved, but power consumption and motor size increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the cantilevered weight condition that created the need for oversized motors. By redesigning the mechanical architecture to remove the gimbal mechanism, the system achieves a more balanced weight distribution, allowing smaller motors to provide the necessary haptic feedback forces with reduced power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the gimbal-based mechanical system with an electrically-driven 6DOF robotic system. This substitution allows for more efficient force generation through direct electric motor actuation, eliminating the need for oversized motors that were required to compensate for the cantilevered weight of the gimbal mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A powered user interface for a robotic surgical system includes a handle on a linkage having a plurality of joints, a base, and actuators. The interface operates in accordance with a first mode of operation in which a plurality of its actuators are operated to constrain predetermined ones of the joints to permit motion of the handle in only 4DOF with respect to the base, and a second mode of operation in which the actuators permit motion of the handle in at least 6DOF with respect to the base.