Hand Gesture Control for Minimally Invasive Surgical Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current minimally invasive surgical systems lack effective control mechanisms that utilize hand movement and gestures to control surgical instruments accurately and intuitively, relying on cumbersome foot pedals and switches, which can distract surgeons and limit dexterity.
Innovation Solution
A hand tracking system that uses sensors mounted on the surgeon's hand to track movements, generating control parameters for teleoperated surgical instruments, allowing for gesture-based control of surgical instruments, including grip closure, orientation, and motion, enabling more intuitive and efficient operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If foot pedals and switches are used to control surgical instruments, then the surgical system can be operated, but the surgeon experiences distraction and reduced dexterity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical foot pedals and switches with a hand tracking system that uses optical sensors and computer vision to detect hand gestures and positions. This substitution eliminates the need for physical contact with control devices, allowing surgeons to control surgical instruments through natural hand movements captured by cameras and processed through gesture recognition algorithms.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional control mechanisms are used, then the system structure remains simple, but the control dexterity is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The hand tracking system serves multiple functions: it tracks hand position, recognizes gestures, determines grip states, and controls various surgical instruments including scalpels, forceps, and electrosurgical generators. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate control mechanisms for each instrument and function, achieving versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a computer vision processing system as an intermediary between the surgeon's hand movements and the surgical instruments. This intermediary layer captures video feeds from multiple cameras, processes images to extract hand position and gesture information, and translates these into control signals for the surgical tools, enabling sophisticated control without direct mechanical coupling.
3Ease of operation
If hand tracking sensors are mounted on the surgeon's hand, then natural hand movement control is achieved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hand tracking system uses the surgeon's own hand as the tracking target, eliminating the need for external controllers or intermediaries. The optical sensors capture the natural appearance and movement of the surgeon's hand, and the gesture recognition software automatically interprets these visual data to generate control commands, making the system adapt to the user rather than requiring the user to adapt to the system.
4Productivity
If foot pedals are used for instrument control, then the surgical procedure can proceed, but operator fatigue increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces repetitive mechanical foot pedal operations with natural hand gestures captured by optical tracking. This substitution eliminates the physical strain associated with continuous foot pedal manipulation while maintaining precise control over surgical instruments, thereby reducing operator fatigue during prolonged procedures.
Data Source
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.