Surgical Robotics With Virtual Boundary Resection Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic surgical systems lack effective methods for accurately guiding cutting tools during surgeries, particularly in complex procedures like joint replacements, leading to potential inaccuracies and complications.
Innovation Solution
A surgical system that includes a robot, a cutting tool, and a computing system capable of capturing multiple tool positions, generating a virtual boundary based on these positions, and controlling the robot to guide the cutting tool along this boundary for precise resection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional robotic surgical systems are used without virtual boundary generation, then the system structure remains simple, but surgical precision and accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The computing system performs preliminary actions by capturing multiple positions of the cutting tool and generating the virtual boundary before the actual cutting operation. This pre-planning phase establishes the resection plan and virtual boundaries that guide subsequent surgical movements, ensuring precision is built into the system architecture from the outset rather than added during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual boundary acts as an intermediary element between the surgeon's intent and the robotic cutting tool's execution. The computing system generates this virtual boundary that mediates the interaction, providing a digital guide that translates surgical planning into precise physical cutting actions through the robotic arm, thereby enhancing precision without requiring direct complex mechanical control mechanisms.
2Measurement precision
If multiple tool positions are captured and virtual boundary is generated, then cutting accuracy is improved, but data processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs data capture and virtual boundary generation as preliminary actions before the actual cutting operation begins. By establishing the resection plan and virtual boundaries in advance, the system processes the necessary data upfront, allowing the surgical execution phase to proceed with real-time guidance without excessive processing delays during the critical cutting phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex real-time mechanical control mechanisms with a computational approach. Instead of relying on complex mechanical guidance systems that would require continuous heavy processing, the virtual boundary provides a digital framework that guides the robotic arm through pre-calculated paths, reducing the need for continuous complex computations during the actual cutting operation.
3Manufacturing precision
If virtual boundary guidance is implemented, then resection accuracy is enhanced, but the complexity of control systems increases
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual boundary serves as a software-based intermediary that simplifies the control architecture. Rather than implementing complex mechanical guidance systems with multiple sensors and actuators, the system uses the virtual boundary as a digital guide that the robotic arm follows, reducing mechanical complexity while maintaining high resection accuracy through intelligent software control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system substitutes complex mechanical control mechanisms with computational guidance. The virtual boundary provides a digital framework that replaces the need for complex physical guidance structures, allowing the robotic system to achieve high precision through software-based path planning and control rather than through mechanically complex guidance systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical system comprising a robot, a cutting tool coupled to the robot, and a computing system. The computing system is programmed to capture a plurality of positions of the cutting tool in a coordinate frame as the cutting tool contacts a plurality of locations on a patient, generate, using the plurality of positions and a projection from the plurality of positions to a selected cut depth, a virtual boundary in the coordinate frame, and control the robot using the virtual boundary to guide the cutting tool in executing a resection in accordance with the virtual boundary.