Knee Arthroplasty Robot Layout for Clear Access and Tracking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing presence of surgical robots in operating rooms leads to crowded and suboptimal layouts, obstructing surgical fields and hindering the movement of surgical teams, while optical trackers on patients can become blocked by people or objects, complicating robot-assisted surgeries like knee arthroplasty.
Innovation Solution
A support system with a surgical table and robotic arm arrangement that positions the robot between a patient's legs, creating a gap for improved access, using adjustable leg supports and a recess to accommodate the robot, and incorporating optical trackers for precise tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a surgical robot is positioned in the operating room to assist with knee arthroplasty, then surgical precision and automation are improved, but the operating room becomes crowded and surgical access is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical table is reconfigured with leg supports that can be positioned at angles to each other, creating a three-dimensional gap space between the patient's legs. This allows the robotic arm to access the surgical site from below the table rather than from the side, adding a vertical dimension to the surgical approach and eliminating spatial conflicts in the horizontal plane.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical table adapter acts as an intermediary structure that couples the robotic arm to the surgical table. This adapter includes a robot coupling interface that securely attaches the robot while allowing it to operate in the constrained space between the angled leg supports, mediating between the robot's automation capabilities and the surgical access requirements.
2Measurement precision
If optical trackers are placed on the patient to enable robot tracking, then positioning precision is improved, but the trackers can become blocked by people or objects in the crowded operating room
Solution Approach 1:
The optical tracking function is extracted from the crowded operating room environment and integrated directly into the robotic system. Cameras are mounted on the robotic arm itself, allowing the robot to track anatomical landmarks and optical trackers without being obstructed by other equipment or personnel in the operating room.
3Ease of operation
If the operating room layout is optimized for traditional surgery, then surgical team movement is easy, but robot-assisted surgery requires reconfiguration that reduces ease of operation
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical table leg supports are designed to be dynamically reconfigurable, allowing them to be adjusted to different angles and positions. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the same surgical table to accommodate both traditional surgical layouts and robot-assisted surgical configurations, providing layout flexibility without sacrificing ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
Examples of systems and methods for performing an orthopedic knee arthroplasty surgery with a robotic arm are generally described herein. A method may include awakening, using a robotic controller, a robotic arm from a parked mode to a surgical procedure mode. Moving, using the robotic controller, the robotic arm to a specified position to aid in the surgical procedure. The method may further include initiating, using the robotic controller, the surgical procedure by activating the robotic arm. In some examples, the robotic arm may be connected to a robotic base located between a first leg support configured to support a first leg of the patient during the surgical procedure and a second leg support configured to support a second leg of the patient during the surgical procedure.