Robotic Arm Boundary Surface Control for Surgical Collision Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computer-assisted surgical systems face challenges in improving safety and ease-of-use, particularly in preventing robotic arm collisions with patients and ensuring precise control during image-guided surgery.
Innovation Solution
The system employs a method for defining a boundary surface based on the patient's skin surface, registering it within a patient coordinate system, and using a motion tracking system and secondary sensing devices to control the robotic arm, ensuring it does not cross the boundary surface and maintains a trajectory intersecting with a target location within the body.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a robotic arm is used for image-guided surgery, then surgical precision and control are improved, but the risk of collision with the patient increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by defining a boundary surface based on the patient's skin surface before surgical procedures. This virtual boundary is established in advance using image datasets and registration processes, allowing the robotic arm to be pre-constrained to avoid collision risks while maintaining surgical precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The boundary surface acts as an intermediary between the robotic arm and the patient's body. This virtual barrier mediates the interaction by providing a safety constraint that the robotic arm must not cross, thereby preventing direct contact while still allowing precise surgical manipulation within the defined boundary.
2Ease of operation
If the robotic arm is freely movable to access all surgical areas, then ease of operation is improved, but safety and control are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic control of the robotic arm by allowing movement within the boundary surface while preventing crossing of the boundary. The robotic arm can be freely positioned for surgical access but is dynamically constrained by the boundary surface to maintain safety, combining ease of operation with reliable control.
3Reliability
If boundary surfaces are defined to prevent robotic arm crossing, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy of the patient's body boundary as a boundary surface. Instead of using complex physical barriers, a digital replica of the anatomical boundary is generated from image datasets, providing safety through computational means rather than mechanical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical safety constraints with a computational boundary surface system. Instead of using physical barriers or complex mechanical interlocks, the safety mechanism is implemented through software-based boundary definition and robotic control algorithms, reducing mechanical complexity while maintaining safety.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for performing robot-assisted surgery, including methods for defining a boundary surface for a robotic surgery system, methods for operating a robotic arm in an image-guided surgery system, methods and systems for providing haptic feedback to a user during robot-assisted surgery, and a robotic arm for use in robot-assisted surgery.