Surgical Robotic Arm Mode Switching for Patient-Tracked Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Surgical robotic arms face challenges in ensuring safety and optimal collaboration with users, as they often move slowly and fail to account for obstacles, and struggle to maintain position due to patient movement during procedures.
Innovation Solution
A surgical robotic system with a robotic arm and control unit that operates in three modes: hand guiding, computed trajectory, and servo-controlled modes, allowing users to freely move the arm, precisely position it, and maintain the end-effector's position autonomously, respectively, while ensuring safety through continuous user input and tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the robotic arm moves toward the target position as long as continuous pressure is exerted by the user, then the robotic arm can reach the target position, but the displacement is slow and significantly increases operative time
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between three operational modes (hand guiding mode, computed trajectory mode, and servo-controlled mode) based on real-time conditions. This allows the robotic arm to transition from slow, continuous-pressure movement to faster, pre-computed trajectories, significantly reducing operative time while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-computes optimal trajectories before execution. By calculating the path in advance during planning phases, the robotic arm can execute movements more efficiently without real-time computation delays, reducing overall operative time while ensuring safety and precision.
2Reliability
If the robotic arm stops as soon as the user releases the button or pedal, then safety is ensured, but the robotic arm cannot maintain the end-effector in the target position relative to the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback through tracking devices that monitor patient movement and robotic arm position in real-time. This feedback loop allows the robotic arm to automatically adjust and maintain the end-effector's position relative to the patient even during breathing or mechanical reactions, while safety conditions ensure the system stops or provides haptic feedback when safety boundaries are approached.
Solution Approach 2:
A tracking system acts as an intermediary between the patient's movements and the robotic arm's position control. The tracker attached to the patient and detected by the localization system enables the robotic arm to compensate for patient movements (breathing, mechanical reactions) while maintaining safety through virtual walls and haptic feedback mechanisms.
3Ease of operation
If the robotic arm is freely movable by the user, then ease of operation is improved, but the robotic arm trajectory may not take into account all obstacles present in the vicinity of the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines multiple functions within a single integrated platform: hand guiding for user freedom, computed trajectory for precision and obstacle avoidance, and servo-controlled mode for automatic positioning. The virtual walls and haptic feedback provide universal safety boundaries across all modes, while the localization system universally tracks both patient position and robotic arm position to ensure safe operation in all contexts.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a surgical robotic system comprising a robotic arm (1) holding an end-effector (11) and a control unit (13) configured to controllably move the robotic arm and maintain the end-effector (11) in at least one target position relative to a patient, wherein the control unit is configured to: (i) based on a first input continuously applied by a user onto the robotic arm (1), activate a hand guiding mode wherein the robotic arm is freely movable by the user; (ii) based on a second input different from the first input, continuously applied by the user onto the robotic arm (1), activate a computed trajectory mode wherein the robotic arm moves to a target position according to a computed trajectory; (iii) when the computed trajectory is activated, detect that the end-effector (11) meets at least one predetermined safety condition and automatically switch to a servo-controlled mode wherein the robotic arm (1) is automatically movable to maintain the end-effector (11) in the target position relative to a tracker attached to the patient.