Hand Gesture Control for Minimally Invasive Surgery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current minimally invasive surgical systems lack effective methods for accurately controlling surgical instruments using hand movements, relying on cumbersome foot pedals and switches, which can distract surgeons from the surgical site and require them to look away, leading to inefficiencies and increased risk of error.
Innovation Solution
A hand tracking system that uses sensors to track the location and orientation of a surgeon's hand, generating system control parameters to control teleoperated surgical instruments, allowing for gesture-based control of surgical instruments, including grip closure and motion control, enabling more intuitive and efficient operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If foot pedals and switches are used for controlling surgical instruments, then the surgical system can be operated, but the surgeon must look away from the surgical site, increasing the risk of error and reducing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical foot pedals and hand switches with a vision-based hand gesture recognition system. Sensors track hand positions and gestures in three-dimensional space, converting physical hand movements into control commands for surgical instruments. This allows surgeons to control instruments while maintaining visual contact with the surgical site, eliminating the need to look away at foot pedals or switches.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a virtual representation of the surgeon's hand movements through tracking sensors that capture hand position, orientation, and gesture data. This copied motion data is then mapped to control commands for the surgical instruments, allowing the surgeon's natural hand gestures to directly control instrument manipulation without requiring physical contact with control devices.
2Productivity
If traditional control devices are used, then the system can be operated, but the operation becomes cumbersome and less efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical foot pedals and hand switches with a vision-based hand gesture recognition system. Sensors track hand positions and gestures in three-dimensional space, converting physical hand movements into control commands for surgical instruments. This allows surgeons to control instruments while maintaining visual contact with the surgical site, eliminating the need to look away at foot pedals or switches.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows the surgeon's own hand gestures to serve as the control input mechanism. By tracking and interpreting natural hand movements, the system enables the surgeon to control instruments using their own body movements rather than requiring separate control devices, thereby improving both efficiency and ease of operation.
3Ease of operation
If hand tracking system is implemented, then intuitive control is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hand tracking system serves multiple functions: it tracks hand position for control, recognizes gestures for command input, and monitors hand orientation for instrument manipulation. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate control devices into a single integrated system, managing complexity through versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a controller as an intermediary that processes raw sensor data from multiple tracking sensors and converts it into meaningful control commands. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity of sensor fusion and gesture recognition algorithms, presenting a simple intuitive interface to the surgeon while handling the computational complexity behind the scenes.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2D
Figure 2E~2G
AI summary
In a minimally invasive surgical system, a hand tracking system tracks a location of a sensor element mounted on part of a human hand. A system control parameter is generated based on the location of the part of the human hand. Operation of the minimally invasive surgical system is controlled using the system control parameter. Thus, the minimally invasive surgical system includes a hand tracking system. The hand tracking system tracks a location of part of a human hand. A controller coupled to the hand tracking system converts the location to a system control parameter, and injects into the minimally invasive surgical system a command based on the system control parameter.