Systems and methods for commanded reconfiguration of a surgical manipulator using the null-space

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9517106-B2
Application number	US-201313906767-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2013
Priority date	Sep 17, 1999
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

Devices, systems, and methods for reconfiguring a surgical manipulator by moving the manipulator within a null-space of a kinematic Jacobian of the manipulator arm. In one aspect, in response to receiving a reconfiguration command, the system drives a first set of joints and calculates velocities of the plurality of joints to be within a null-space. The joints are driven according to the reconfiguration command and the calculated movement so as to maintain a desired state of the end effector or a remote center about which an instrument shaft pivots. In another aspect, the joints are also driven according to a calculated end effector or remote center displacing velocities within a null-perpendicular-space of the Jacobian so as to effect the desired reconfiguration concurrently with a desired movement of the end effector or remote center.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robotic system comprising:
a manipulator arm configured for robotically moving a distal portion relative to a proximal base, the manipulator arm having a plurality of joints between the distal portion and a proximal portion coupled to the proximal base, the plurality of joints providing sufficient degrees of freedom to allow a range of joint states of the plurality of joints for a given state of the distal portion;
an input device configured for receiving a reconfiguration command to move a first one or more joints of the plurality of joints for a desired reconfiguration movement of a first portion of the manipulator arm between the proximal base and the distal portion so as to maintain a desired state of the distal portion in combination with the reconfiguration movement of the first portion of the manipulator arm; and
a processor coupling the input device to the manipulator arm, the processor being configured to calculate, in response to the reconfiguration command, velocities of the plurality of joints for a first movement of the plurality of joints to move the first one or more joints of the plurality of joints in accordance with the reconfiguration command, the calculated velocities of the plurality of joints being within a null-space of a Jacobian of the manipulator arm and including a component corresponding to the first one or more joints of the plurality of joints, and the processor being further configured to drive the plurality of joints according to the first movement so as to maintain the desired state of the distal portion in combination with the reconfiguration movement of the first portion of the manipulator arm.

2. The robotic system of claim 1 further comprising:
an input device for receiving a manipulation command to move the distal portion for a desired distal portion movement, wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a distal portion displacing movement of the plurality of joints in response to the manipulation command, wherein the calculating of the distal portion displacing movement of the plurality of joints comprises calculating joint velocities within a null-perpendicular-space of the Jacobian, the null-perpendicular-space being orthogonal to the null-space, and wherein the processor is further configured to drive the plurality of joints according to the calculated distal portion displacing movement of the plurality of joints so as to effect the desired distal portion movement.

3. The robotic system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to calculate the distal portion displacing movement of the plurality of joints so that the first one or more joints are not driven.

4. The robotic system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to calculate the first movement of the plurality of joints so that the first one or more joints are not driven to effect the distal portion displacing movement of the plurality of joints.

5. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to calculate the first movement of the plurality of joints so that a movement of a first joint of the first one or more joints provides a substantially constant speed of the first joint for a duration of the first movement.

6. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the input device for receiving the reconfiguration command is disposed on a portion of the manipulator arm such that entering the reconfiguration command with the input device drives a joint of the plurality of joints adjacent the portion of the manipulator arm on which the input device is disposed so as to move the portion of the manipulator arm on which the input device is disposed.

7. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the input device for receiving the reconfiguration command comprises a button cluster, and wherein the button cluster comprises a plurality of buttons, each button of the plurality of buttons corresponding to a different joint of the plurality of joints.

8. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the input device for receiving the reconfiguration command comprises a joystick configured such that two or more of the plurality of joints are selectively driveable by movement of the joystick.

9. The robotic system of claim 2 , further comprising a user interface that includes a surgeon console and a patient side cart, wherein the input device for receiving the reconfiguration command and the input device for receiving the manipulation command are configured so that each is disposed on one of the patient side cart or the surgeon console.

10. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the proximal portion of the manipulator arm is coupled to the proximal base by a first joint from the first one or more joints.

11. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the proximal portion of the manipulator arm is coupled to the proximal base by a first joint of the plurality of joints such that the proximal portion of the manipulator arm is moveable relative to the proximal base while joints are driven according to the reconfiguration movement.

12. The robotic system of claim 10 , wherein the first joint is a revolute joint that supports the plurality of joints of the manipulator arm such that joint movement of the revolute joint pivots one or more joints of the plurality of joints about a pivotal axis of the revolute joint, the pivotal axis extending from the revolute joint through the distal portion.

13. The robotic system of claim 12 , wherein joint movement of the revolute joint pivots one or more joints of the plurality of joints about an axis oriented towards a remote center of motion.

14. The robotic system of claim 11 , wherein the first joint is moveable relative to the base along an arcuate or substantially circular path such that movement of the first joint along the path pivots one or more joints of the plurality of joints about an axis extending through a remote center of motion.

15. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the distal portion comprises a surgical instrument having an elongate shaft extending distally to a surgical end effector, wherein the shaft pivots about a remote center of motion during surgery, and wherein the movement of the plurality of joints is calculated so as to maintain a position of the shaft at the remote center of motion in combination with the reconfiguration movement of the first portion of the manipulator arm.

16. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the distal portion is configured to support a surgical instrument having an elongate shaft extending distally to a surgical end effector, wherein the shaft pivots about a remote center of motion during surgery, and wherein the movement of the plurality of joints is calculated so as to maintain a position of the shaft at the remote center of motion in combination with the reconfiguration movement of the first portion of the manipulator arm.

17. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the distal portion comprises a tool, the tool including an intermediate portion extending along an insertion axis distally from the proximal portion and an end effector at a distal end of the intermediate portion, wherein two or more of the plurality of joints mechanically constrain movement of the distal portion relative to the proximal base such that movement of the end effector at a work site is facilitated as the distal portion of the manipulator arm pivots about a remote center of motion located along the insertion axis.

18. The robotic system of claim 1 , wherein the distal portion is configured to support a tool, the tool including an intermediate

Assignees

• Intuitive Surgical Operations

Inventors

• Hourtash Arjang M
• Mohr Paul W
• Hingwe Pushkar
• Millman Paul
• Schena Bruce Michael
• Devengenzo Roman L
• Luke Scott

Classifications

• A61B34/25

  User interfaces for surgical systems · CPC title

• A61B34/37 Primary

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

• B25J9/1607

  Calculation of inertia, jacobian matrixes and inverses · CPC title

• A61B2034/742

  Joysticks · CPC title

• A61B34/74

  Manipulators with manual electric input means · CPC title