Apparatus and method for controlling force to be used for motion of surgical robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9308646-B2
Application number	US-201213731344-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 31, 2012
Priority date	Apr 30, 2012
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

An apparatus and method for controlling a robot may scale a motion of a surgical robot based on a type of object gripped by the surgical robot. In the robot controlling method, by scaling the motion of the surgical robot based on the type of object gripped by the surgical robot, the surgical robot may automatically perform the motion on objects using an optimized force although a user does not control a force minutely based on the type of object gripped by the surgical robot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for controlling a robot, the apparatus comprising:
an object type identifying unit to identify a type of object that is gripped by the robot; and
a motion determining unit to determine a motion of the robot corresponding to a user input, based on the identified type of object,
wherein the motion determining unit scales a magnitude of a force to be used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input, based on damage information for each type of object, and
wherein the damage information comprises information related to a direction or a force in which the object is damaged.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the damage information comprises a threshold value related to a magnitude of a force at which the object is damaged, for each direction in which the force is applied to the object.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the motion determining unit scales a magnitude of the force to be used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input, based on a ratio of the magnitude of the force corresponding to the user input to a maximum magnitude of a force available for the robot, and a threshold value related to a direction corresponding to the user input in the damage information.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the motion determining unit sets a motion direction of the robot in which the object is likely to be damaged to be a restricted direction, based on a motion direction of the robot and the magnitude of the force to be used for the motion of the robot, and restricts the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input when the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input is performed in the restricted direction.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a feedback information determining unit to determine feedback information to be transmitted to a feedback apparatus that provides a feedback to a user based on the identified type of object.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the feedback information determining unit scales a magnitude of a force corresponding to the motion of the robot in the feedback information, based on a ratio of a magnitude of a force used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input to a maximum magnitude of a force available for the robot.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the feedback information determining unit scales a magnitude of a force corresponding to the motion of the robot in the feedback information, based on a ratio of a magnitude of a force used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input to a threshold value related to a direction corresponding to the user input.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the feedback information determining unit incorporates, into the feedback information, control information for precluding a motion of the robot in a direction corresponding to the user input when the motion determining unit restricts a motion direction of the robot corresponding to the user input.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the object comprises at least one of a surgical instrument and a tissue of a patient.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the object type identifying unit identifies the type of object gripped by the robot, based on object type information input by a user.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the object type identifying unit measures a grip strength corresponding to a force at which the robot grips the object, and identifies the type of object gripped by the robot based on the measured grip strength.

12. A method of controlling a robot, the method comprising:
identifying a type of object that is gripped by the robot; and
determining a motion of the robot corresponding to a user input, based on the identified type of object,
wherein the determining comprises scaling a magnitude of a force to be used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input, based on damage information for each type of object, and
wherein the damage information comprises information related to a direction or a force in which the object is damaged.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the damage information comprises a threshold value related to a magnitude of a force at which the object is damaged, for each direction in which the force is applied to the object.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the determining comprises scaling a magnitude of the force to be used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input, based on a ratio of a magnitude of the force corresponding to the user input to a maximum magnitude of a force available for the robot, and a threshold value related to a direction corresponding to the user input in the damage information.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the determining comprises setting a motion direction of the robot in which the object is likely to be damaged to be a restricted direction, based on a motion direction of the robot and the magnitude of the force to be used for the motion of the robot, and restricting the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input when the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input is performed in the restricted direction.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining feedback information to be transmitted to a feedback apparatus that provides a feedback to a user based on the identified type of object.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining of the feedback information comprises scaling a magnitude of a force corresponding to the motion of the robot in the feedback information, based on a ratio of a magnitude of a force used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input to a maximum magnitude of a force available for the robot.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining of the feedback information comprises scaling a magnitude of a force corresponding to the motion of the robot in the feedback information, based on a ratio of a magnitude of a force used for the motion of the robot corresponding to the user input to a threshold value related to a direction corresponding to the user input.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determining of the feedback information comprises incorporating, into the feedback information, control information for precluding a motion of the robot in a direction corresponding to the user input when the motion determining unit restricts a motion direction of the robot corresponding to the user input.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the object comprises at least one of a surgical instrument and a tissue of a patient.

21. The method of claim 12 , wherein the identifying comprises identifying the type of object gripped by the robot, based on object type information input by a user.

22. The method of claim 12 , wherein the identifying comprises measuring a grip strength corresponding to a force at which the robot grips the object, and identifying the type of object gripped by the robot based on the measured grip strength.

23. A method for controlling a robot, the method comprising:
identifying an implement used by the robot and a material on which the implement is used during the control of the robot;
sensing a magnitude and direction of a force applied by the implement to the material;
scaling a user input based on a predetermined threshold value of the implement, a predetermined threshold value of the material, the applied force, and based on damage information of the material associated with the app

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lim Soo Chul
• Park Joon Ah
• Kim Hyung Joo

Classifications

• A61B34/37 Primary

  Leader-follower robots (A61B34/35 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G05B2219/39523

  Set holding force as function of dimension, weight, shape, hardness, surface · CPC title

• G05B2219/40138

  Scaled feedback of forces from follower to leader and leader to follower · CPC title

• B25J9/1633 Primary

  compliant, force, torque control, e.g. combined with position control · CPC title

• G05B2219/40619

  Haptic, combination of tactile and proprioceptive sensing · CPC title