Robotic Arm Pose Planning for Collision-Free Surgical Docking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic medical systems face challenges in achieving precise port placements and avoiding collisions during surgical procedures, especially with complex systems involving multiple robotic arms, due to the need for careful positioning and consideration of patient-specific anatomy and procedural requirements.
Innovation Solution
A robotic medical system that utilizes a 3-D scanner to determine optimized initial robotic arm poses and port locations by combining patient data, procedural information, and collision simulation to minimize errors and collisions, allowing for precise workspace management during surgery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple robotic arms are used to provide surgical flexibility and enable novel procedures, then surgical capability and versatility are improved, but the risk of intra-operative collisions and positioning complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs pre-docking pose optimization by simulating the entire surgical procedure before actual surgery to identify and resolve potential collision risks. The simulation runs through all surgical steps with the planned port locations and arm poses, allowing collisions to be detected and corrected in the planning phase rather than during actual surgery.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses iterative optimization where collision detection results feed back into pose adjustment. The simulation identifies collisions, the system modifies arm poses or port locations, and re-simulates until no collisions are detected, creating a closed-loop feedback process that ensures collision-free surgical planning.
2Manufacturing precision
If precise port placements within small margins of error are achieved, then surgical precision is improved, but the difficulty of positioning and setup increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines optimal port locations and arm poses through pre-operative simulation and optimization. By calculating the best positions before surgery, the system achieves precise port placements (within 1.5cm for large patients, 1cm for smaller patients) without increasing actual surgical complexity, as the difficult optimization work is done in advance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically optimizes port locations and arm poses using algorithmic simulation and collision detection, eliminating the need for manual trial-and-error positioning by surgeons. The computational system performs the complex optimization task itself, achieving precise placements without proportionally increasing manual positioning complexity.
3Ease of operation
If conventional port planning based on doctor's knowledge is used, then setup simplicity is maintained, but the ability to account for patient-specific anatomy and avoid collisions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains ease of use by providing automated recommendations that doctors can review and approve with a single action. The simulation feedback loop automatically accounts for patient-specific 3-D anatomy, instrument characteristics, and procedural steps, reliably identifying collision risks without requiring complex manual analysis by the surgeon.
Solution Approach 2:
The system acts as an intermediary between simple conventional planning and complex collision avoidance requirements. It takes basic procedural input, automatically performs complex simulation and optimization considering patient anatomy and instrument interactions, and returns simplified recommendations that maintain ease of use while ensuring collision avoidance reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
Robotic medical systems may recommend poses for robotic arms based on patient and medical procedure information and communicate the recommended poses to users of the robotic medical systems. The robotic medical systems may include robotic arms and processor(s). The robotic medical systems may be configured to obtain images of a patient, simulate a medical procedure to identify collisions, and select poses based on a number of collisions. The robotic medical systems may provide information indicating the recommended poses.