Collision avoidance during controlled movement of image capturing device and manipulatable device movable arms

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9259282-B2
Application number	US-201314101769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2013
Priority date	Dec 10, 2012
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for movement control includes a controller coupled to a computer-assisted surgical device having a first movable arm coupled to a manipulatable device having a working end and a second movable arm coupled to an image capturing device. The controller is configured to receive first configurations for the first movable arm; receive second configurations for the second movable arm; receive a plurality of images of the working end from the image capturing device; determine a position and an orientation of the working end; determine a first movable arm position and trajectory for the first movable arm; determine a second movable arm position and trajectory for the second movable arm; determine whether motion of the movable arms will result in an undesirable relationship between the movable arms; and send a movement command to the first or second movable arm to avoid the undesirable relationship.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A movement control system comprising:
a controller comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory coupled to the one or more processors;
wherein:
the controller is coupled to a computer-assisted surgical device having a first movable arm coupled to a manipulatable device having a working end;
the controller is further coupled to a second movable arm coupled to an image capturing device separate from the computer-assisted surgical device;
the controller is configured to:
receive one or more first configurations for the first movable arm;
receive one or more second configurations for the second movable arm;
receive a first plurality of images of the working end from the image capturing device;
determine, based on at least one of the first plurality of images, a position and an orientation of the working end in a common reference frame;
determine, based on the first configurations, a first movable arm position and a first movable arm trajectory for the first movable arm in the common reference frame;
determine, based on the second configurations, a second movable arm position and a second movable arm trajectory for the second movable arm in the common reference frame;
based on the first movable arm position, the first movable arm trajectory, the second movable arm position, and the second movable arm trajectory, determine whether motion of the first movable arm, motion of the second movable arm, or motions of the first and second movable arms together will result in an undesirable relationship between the first and second movable arms; and
send a first movement command to the first movable arm or the second movable arm to avoid the undesirable relationship.

2. The movement control system of claim 1 wherein:
the common reference frame is a reference frame of the image capturing device; and
the controller is further configured to determine the first movable arm position in the common reference frame further based on the position and the orientation of the working end in the common reference frame.

3. The movement control system of claim 1 wherein:
the common reference frame is a reference frame of the computer-assisted surgical device; and
the controller is further configured to:
determine the second movable arm position in a reference frame of the image capturing device;
determine the position and the orientation of the working end in the reference frame of the image capturing device; and
transform the second movable arm position and the position and orientation of the working end from the reference frame of the image capturing device to the common reference frame.

4. The movement control system of claim 1 wherein:
the first plurality of images is a plurality of two-dimensional images from the image capturing device; and
the controller is further configured to determine the position and the orientation of the working end from the two-dimensional images even when the working end of the manipulatable device is occluded by one or more objects disposed between the image capturing device and the working end of the manipulatable device.

5. The movement control system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a viewer adapted to display a second plurality images of a work space of the working end of the manipulatable device; and
an input unit configured to receive information of a user specified region of interest within the second plurality of images being displayed on the viewer;
wherein the controller is further configured to send second movement commands to the second movable arm so that the image capturing device captures images of the user specified region of interest.

6. The movement control system of claim 5 wherein:
the input unit comprises a gaze tracking unit configured to track a gaze of a user on a display screen of the viewer; and
the gaze tracking unit includes an indicator operable by the user to indicate the region of interest by using a current gaze point of the user on the display screen.

7. The movement control system of claim 5 , wherein:
the input unit comprises a telestrator unit configured to receive one of the second plurality of images and display the received one of the second plurality of images on a display screen of the telestrator; and
the telestrator unit includes a marker unit operable by a user to indicate the region of interest on the displayed one of the second plurality of images.

8. The movement control system of claim 5 , further comprising a camera, wherein the second plurality of images is captured by the camera.

9. The movement control system of claim 5 , further comprising an ultrasound probe, wherein the second plurality of images is captured by the ultrasound probe.

10. The movement control system of claim 1 wherein:
the first movable arm has redundant degrees of freedom so that for each controllable position and orientation of the working end of the manipulatable device there is a first plurality of possible positions and orientations for the first movable arm;
the second movable arm has redundant degrees of freedom so that for each controllable position and orientation of the image capturing device there is a second plurality of possible positions and orientations for the second movable arm; and
the first movement command sent to the first movable arm or the second movable arm directs the first movable arm to move to one of the first plurality of possible positions and orientations or directs the second movable arm to move to one of the second plurality of possible positions and orientations that avoid the undesirable relationship.

11. The movement control system of claim 10 wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine which one of the first movable arm and the second movable arm is to be sent the first movement command based on differences between the first movable arm position and the first plurality of possible positions and orientations and differences between the second movable arm position and the second plurality of possible positions and orientations; and
the determination is made so as to minimize a cost function.

12. The movement control system of claim 11 wherein the first movement command directs the first movable arm to move from the first movable arm position to a first selected one of the first plurality of possible positions and orientations or directs the second movable arm to move from the second movable arm position to a second selected one of the second plurality of possible positions and orientations based on which of the first selected one of the first plurality of possible positions and orientations and the second selected one of the second plurality of possible positions and orientations minimizes the cost function.

13. The movement control system of claim 1 wherein the undesirable relationship is selected from a group consisting of a collision between the first movable arm and the second movable arm, too close a proximity between the first movable arm and the second movable arm, and obstruction of a region of interest of the image capturing device by the first movable arm.

14. A method of controlling movement in a medical system, the method comprising:
receiving one or more first configurations for a first movable arm of a computer-assisted surgical device, the first movable arm being coupled to a manipulatable device having a working end;
receiving one or more second configurations for a second movable arm coupled to an image capturing device separate from the computer-assisted surgical device;
receiving a first plurality of images of the working end from the image capturing device;
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Assignees

• Intuitive Surgical Operations

Inventors

• Azizian Mahdi
• Sorger Jonathan
• Blohm Lutz
• Niebler Christine
• Kunze Holger

Classifications

• A61B6/102

  Protection against mechanical damage, e.g. anti-collision devices · CPC title

• A61B2034/2065

  Tracking using image or pattern recognition · CPC title

• Y10S901/47

  Optical · CPC title

• A61B2090/376

  using X-rays, e.g. fluoroscopy · CPC title

• A61B34/30 Primary

  Surgical robots · CPC title