Robotic Surgical Tool Pose Adjustment via Deviation Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical navigation systems face challenges in achieving precise control of surgical instruments with 6 degrees of freedom, particularly in maintaining accurate alignment and orientation of cutting tools during procedures due to the complexity of hand-eye coordination and fine motor adjustments required for precise deviations.
Innovation Solution
A surgical instrument system equipped with a cutting portion, adjustment motors, and a controller that measures deviations from a desired pose and adjusts the cutting portion's position and orientation in multiple degrees of freedom, using a pose tracking system and geometrical descriptors to guide the instrument to the planned path, while allowing for detachment of motors for sterilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a tooltip is free to move in all directions and orientations (6 degrees of freedom), then the surgical instrument has high flexibility and adaptability, but it becomes difficult to achieve the planned path with desired accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different degrees of freedom at different locations. The tooltip has full 6-DOF freedom at its location for adaptability, while the handle has constrained motion through guide structures that limit movement to specific degrees of freedom, ensuring accuracy. This spatial differentiation of freedom constraints resolves the contradiction between flexibility and precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical instrument is segmented into distinct functional zones: the tooltip region with full 6-DOF freedom for adaptability, the intermediate shaft with selective freedom, and the handle region with constrained motion through guides. This segmentation allows each segment to optimize for its specific function—adaptability at the tooltip and accuracy at the handle—resolving the overall contradiction.
2Measurement precision
If graphical deviation indicators are provided to guide the user, then the user can correct tooltip position, but the complexity of hand-eye coordination and fine motor adjustments increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanical guidance system (guides and guide structures) that physically mediates between the user's hand movements and the tooltip's actual motion. This intermediary translates complex 6-DOF corrections into simplified motions along predetermined paths, reducing the cognitive and motor burden on the user while maintaining precise deviation correction capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements real-time feedback through graphical deviation indicators that continuously show the difference between actual and desired tooltip positions. This feedback loop allows the user to make incremental corrections, with each adjustment bringing the tooltip closer to the planned path, thereby simplifying the overall control task despite the complexity of 6-DOF motion.
3Extent of automation
If adjustment motors are integrated into the surgical instrument, then automated pose adjustment is achieved, but the device complexity and sterilization requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument is segmented into sterilizable components (handle, guides, tooltip) and non-sterilizable components (adjustment motors, electronics). This segmentation allows the motors to be integrated for automated control while isolating them from the sterile field, resolving the contradiction between automation and sterilization requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a sterile barrier or drape as an intermediary between the non-sterile motorized components and the sterile surgical field. This intermediary allows automated pose adjustment to function while maintaining the sterility of the portions that contact the patient, thereby enabling automation without compromising infection control.
Data Source
AI summary
Surgical systems and methods of controlling a surgical instrument are provided. The system includes a surgical instrument having a cutting portion and a body, the body having a handle, a drive motor for driving the cutting portion in a rotating, a reciprocating or a vibrating motion, a plurality of adjustment motors for adjusting a cutting pose of the cutting portion relative to the handle; and, a controller configured to measure the deviations between the cutting pose and a desired pose of the cutting portion and to activate the adjustment motors to reduce those deviations. The method involves coupling a cutting portion of a surgical instrument to a plurality of adjustment motors; holding the handle of the surgical instrument; operating a controller to measure deviations between a cutting pose and a desired pose; and operating the adjustment motors to adjust the cutting pose relative to the handle to reduce the deviations.