Medical Support Arm Motion Restriction Using Safe Position Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing medical supporting arms face challenges in ensuring safe operation, as manual operation can lead to unintended contact with patients or practitioners, requiring reliance on visual and tactile senses for safety and operability.

Innovation Solution

A medical supporting arm control apparatus that employs whole body cooperative control using generalized inverse dynamics and ideal joint control to restrict and stabilize arm movement, incorporating torque sensors and actuators to enhance safety and precision.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If manual operation of medical arm is used, then ease of operation is improved, but safety deteriorates due to potential unintended contact with patients or practitioners

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveoperabilityVSAvoidsafety
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The control device continuously monitors arm position, operation commands, and environmental data, comparing actual state with safe operation parameters to dynamically adjust control signals and prevent unsafe movements while maintaining intuitive manual operation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The control device acts as an intermediary between the operator and the medical arm, introducing a safety layer that processes operation commands and arm state information to determine whether to permit or restrict movement, thereby ensuring safety without eliminating manual operability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If operation restriction control is implemented, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional control mechanisms

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovesafetyVSAvoidcontrol system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control device performs multiple functions including safety monitoring, operation restriction determination, and dynamic control signal generation using integrated processing units that handle both safety logic and operational control within a single system architecture

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The control device autonomously determines whether to restrict operations by evaluating arm state, operation commands, and environmental data without requiring external intervention, making safety decisions independently based on pre-programmed safety criteria

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

If dynamic control signal adjustment is applied, then safety response capability is improved, but processing requirements and system complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety response capabilityVSAvoidprocessing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control device dynamically adjusts control signals in real-time based on current arm position, operation commands, and environmental conditions, transitioning between permissive and restrictive control modes as safety conditions change during operation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP3437584B1Medical support arm control device and medical system
Publication Date: 2025.08.13 SONY GROUP CORP
  • EP3437584B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3437584B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3437584B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

An object of the invention of the present application is to provide a medical supporting arm control apparatus that restricts an operation of a medical supporting arm apparatus. A medical supporting arm control apparatus (20) according to the present disclosure includes: a position acquisition section (241) configured to detect a spatial position of an operating point on a multi-link structure (120) configured by coupling a plurality of links by a joint section; a comparison section (270) configured to compare a movable region of the operating point with the spatial position, the movable region being set in advance; and an operation restriction section (272) configured to restrict an operation of the operating point on a basis of a result of the comparison. According to this configuration, it is possible to restrict the operation of the medical supporting arm apparatus.