System and method for dynamic virtual collision objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9993222-B2
Application number	US-201515116561-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 4, 2015
Priority date	Feb 5, 2014
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

A system and method of dynamic virtual collision objects includes a control unit for a medical device. The control unit includes one or more processors and an interface coupling the control unit to the medical device. The control unit is configured to determine a position of a first movable segment of the medical device, a volume occupied by the first movable segment being approximated by one or more first virtual collision objects (VCOs); adjust, based on the position and motion goals for the medical device, one or more properties of the first VCOs; determine, based on the position and the properties, first geometries of the first VCOs; receive second geometries of one or more second VCOs associated with a second segment of a second device; determine relationships between the first VCOs and the second VCOs; and adjust, based on the relationships, a motion plan for the medical device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control unit for a medical device comprising:
one or more processors; and
an interface coupling the control unit to the medical device;
wherein the control unit is configured to:
determine a position of a first movable segment of the medical device, a volume occupied by the first movable segment being approximated by one or more first virtual collision objects (VCOs);
adjust, based on the position and motion goals for the medical device, one or more properties of the first VCOs;
determine, based on the position and the properties, first geometries of the first VCOs;
receive second geometries of one or more second VCOs associated with a second segment of a second device;
determine relationships between the first VCOs and the second VCOs; and
adjust, based on the relationships, a motion plan for the medical device.

2. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to transmit the first geometries and the properties to a second control unit associated with the second device.

3. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the motion plan is collision free.

4. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the adjustment to the motion plan avoids overlaps between the first VCOs and the second VCOs.

5. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the properties of the first VCOs include one or more properties selected from a group consisting of a size of each of the first VCOs, a shape of each of the first VCOs, a number of the first VCOs, and a coefficient of resiliency of each of the first VCOs.

6. The control unit of claim 5 wherein the coefficient of resiliency is non-uniform over a volume of at least one of the first VCOs.

7. The control unit of claim 5 wherein the coefficient of resiliency for at least one of the first VCOs varies based on a corresponding first geometry of the at least one of the first VCOs.

8. The control unit of claim 5 wherein the coefficient of resiliency for at least one of the first VCOs varies based on a direction of motion of the at least one of the first VCOs.

9. The control unit of claim 5 wherein the coefficient of resiliency for at least one of the first VCOs is modeled as a vector or tensor over a corresponding first geometry of the at least one of the first VCOs.

10. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to determine a velocity of the first movable segment.

11. The control unit of claim 10 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust a size of one or more of the first VCOs based on the velocity of the first movable segment.

12. The control unit of claim 10 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust a size of one or more of the first VCOs based on a momentum of the first movable segment.

13. The control unit of claim 10 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust a number of the first VCOs based on the velocity of the first movable segment.

14. The control unit of claim 10 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust a number of the first VCOs based on a momentum of the first movable segment.

15. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to increase a size of one of the first VCOs so as to induce an emergency stop in the second device.

16. The control unit of claim 15 wherein the size is increased to a size of a work space occupied by the medical device and the second device.

17. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to increase a size of one of the first VCOs so as to induce a retreat in the second device.

18. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to increase a size of a selected one of the first VCOs so that a first volume occupied by the selected first VCO is expanded to just before the first volume touches a second volume occupied by a closest one of the second VCOs.

19. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to create one or more third VCOs to reserve an operational volume for the medical device.

20. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to create one or more third VCOs to create one or more protected regions in a workspace.

21. The control unit of claim 20 wherein the one or more protected regions include objects or protected patient anatomy.

22. The control unit of claim 20 wherein the one or more protected regions are dynamically changing.

23. The control unit of claim 20 wherein the control unit is further configured to:
determine additional relationships between the first VCOs and the third VCOs; and
adjust, based on the additional relationships, the motion plan for the medical device.

24. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust the properties of the first VCOs to support fine motion operation of the medical device.

25. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust the properties of the first VCOs to support close operation of the medical device with the second device.

26. The control unit of claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to adjust the properties of the first VCOs based on a change in orientation between the first movable segment and a third segment of the medical device.

27. The control unit of claim 1 wherein a shape of each of the first VCOs is selected from a group consisting of a sphere, a cylinder, an ovoid, a capsule, and a rectangular solid.

28. The control unit of claim 1 wherein determining the relationships includes determining whether there is an overlap between the first VCOs and the second VCOs.

29. The control unit of claim 1 wherein determining the relationships include determining whether one of the first VCOs and one of the second VCOs are less than a threshold distance apart.

Assignees

• Intuitive Surgical Operations
• Siemens Ag Healthcare Sector

Inventors

• Azizian Mahdi
• Sorger Jonathan M
• Kunze Holger
• Blohm Lutz

Classifications

• A61B34/30

  Surgical robots · CPC title

• A61B6/102 Primary

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

• G05B2219/40202

  Human robot coexistence · CPC title

• A61B6/4441

  the rigid structure being a C-arm or U-arm · CPC title

• B25J9/1676 Primary

  Avoiding collision or forbidden zones · CPC title