Systems and methods for controlling robotic movement of a tool based on a virtual boundary

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11944396-B2
Application number	US-202117212568-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2021
Priority date	Mar 27, 2020
Publication date	Apr 2, 2024
Grant date	Apr 2, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for controlling robotic movement of a tool based on one or more virtual boundaries. The system comprises a tool and a manipulator to support the tool. A control system controls operation of the manipulator and movement of the tool based on a relationship between the tool and the one or more virtual boundaries associated with a target site. The control system includes a boundary handler to determine whether the tool is in compliance with the one or more virtual boundaries or is in violation of the one or more virtual boundaries.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A surgical system comprising:
a tool;
a manipulator to support the tool; and
a control system to control operation of the manipulator and movement of the tool based on a relationship between the tool and a virtual boundary associated with a target site, the control system including:
a user input having a first input state and a second input state,
wherein the control system is configured to enable autonomous, boundary-complying movement of the tool when the user input is in the first input state so that the tool maintains compliance with the virtual boundary,
wherein the control system is configured to disable autonomous, boundary-complying movement of the tool when the user input is in the second input state; and
a boundary handler to determine, in response to the user input transitioning from the second input state to the first input state, whether the tool is in violation of the virtual boundary.

2. The surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to initiate a recovery mode in response to the tool being in violation of the virtual boundary when the user input transitions from the second input state to the first input state, and autonomous, boundary-complying movement of the tool remains disabled in the recovery mode when the user input is in the first input state.

3. The surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the tool includes a tool drive and the control system is configured to disable operation of the tool drive in response to the tool being in violation of the virtual boundary when the user input transitions from the second input state to the first input state.

4. The surgical system of claim 2 , wherein:
the control system is configured to guide a user into placing the tool into compliance with the virtual boundary in the recovery mode by generating user feedback that includes one or more of audible feedback, visual feedback, and haptic feedback; and
the control system is configured to cease generating the user feedback when the tool is placed into compliance with the virtual boundary.

5. The surgical system of claim 4 , wherein the control system is configured to limit relative movement between the tool and the virtual boundary when the user input is in the first input state by generating boundary constraints with the boundary handler, wherein the control system comprises:
a constraint solver to calculate a constraint force adapted to maintain the tool in compliance with the virtual boundary based on the boundary constraints; and
a virtual simulator to simulate dynamics of the tool in a virtual simulation based on the constraint force, and to output a commanded pose,
the control system being configured to command the manipulator to move the tool based on the commanded pose.

6. The surgical system of claim 5 , wherein the boundary handler is operable between a boundary-enabled state in which boundary constraints are being transmitted from the boundary handler to the constraint solver to thereby enable autonomous, boundary-complying movement of the tool when the virtual boundary moves relative to the tool in a manner that would otherwise cause the tool to violate the virtual boundary and a boundary-disabled state in which boundary constraints are no longer being transmitted from the boundary handler to the constraint solver to thereby disable autonomous, boundary-complying movement of the tool such that the virtual boundary is movable relative to the tool in a manner that causes the tool to violate the virtual boundary, the boundary handler being configured to:
operate in the boundary-disabled state in response to the user input transitioning from the first input state to the second input state;
operate in the boundary-enabled state in response to the user input transitioning from the second input state to the first input state with the tool in compliance with the virtual boundary; and
operate in the boundary-disabled state in response to the user input transitioning from the second input state to the first input state with the tool in violation of the virtual boundary.

7. The surgical system of claim 6 , wherein the control system is configured to provide haptic feedback to the user to guide the user into placing the tool into compliance with the virtual boundary by: activating one or more guide constraints to guide the tool into compliance with the virtual boundary, or by dampening movement of the tool.

8. The surgical system of claim 7 , wherein the control system is configured to switch the boundary handler from the boundary-disabled state to the boundary-enabled state when the tool is placed into compliance with the virtual boundary.

9. The surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the user input is configured such that the first input state indicates that a user is actively engaging the tool and the second input state indicates that the user has released the tool.

10. The surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the user input is located on the tool and the user input is configured such that the user input is actuated to place the user input in the first input state and the user input is released to place the user input in the second input state, wherein the tool has a grip and the user input includes a presence detector to detect a hand of a user on the grip.

11. The surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the control system comprises a pendant and the user input is located on the pendant, the user input being configured such that the user input is actuated to place the user input in the first input state and the user input is released to place the user input in the second input state.

12. The surgical system of claim 1 , wherein the user input is further defined as a tool input located on the tool and the first and second input states are further defined as a tool input first state and a tool input second state, wherein the control system comprises a pendant and a pendant input located on the pendant, the pendant input having a pendant input first state and a pendant input second state.

13. The surgical system of claim 12 , wherein the manipulator is operable in a manual mode in which the manipulator moves the tool in response to user forces and torques applied to the tool by a user when the tool input is in the tool input first state and the manipulator is operable in a semi-autonomous mode in which the manipulator moves the tool along a tool path when the pendant input is in the pendant input first state.

14. The surgical system of claim 13 , wherein:
the boundary handler is configured to determine whether the tool is in compliance with the virtual boundary or is in violation of the virtual boundary in response to the control system switching operation of the manipulator from one of the manual and semi-autonomous modes to the other of the manual and semi-autonomous modes;
the control system comprises a path handler configured to generate a lead-in path from a current position of the tool to the tool path when the manipulator switches from the manual mode to the semi-autonomous mode; and the boundary handler is configured to determine whether movement of the tool along the lead-in path would maintain compliance with the virtual boundary or would violate the virtual boundary;
the boundary handler is configured to determine whether movement of the tool along the lead-in path would maintain compliance with the virtual boundary or would violate the virtual boundary by modeling motion of a plurality of stereotactic interaction features associated with the tool to determine if the stereotactic interaction features would maintain compliance with the virtual boundary or would viol

Assignees

• Mako Surgical Corp

Inventors

• Dozeman Michael Dale
• Roessler Patrick
• Garcia Gregory
• Khurana Rishabh
• Dunn Jeremy L
• Bowling David Gene

Classifications

• A61B34/25 Primary

  User interfaces for surgical systems · CPC title

• A61B34/20

  Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis · CPC title

• A61B34/32 Primary

  operating autonomously · CPC title

• A61B34/76

  Manipulators having means for providing feel, e.g. force or tactile feedback · CPC title

• A61B34/30 Primary

  Surgical robots · CPC title