US-12622760-B2 - Computer-assisted tele-operated surgery systems and methods

US12622760B2US 12622760 B2US12622760 B2US 12622760B2US-12622760-B2

Abstract

A computer-assisted system includes a manipulator assembly configured to couple to a cannula at a distal portion of the manipulator assembly. The cannula has a lumen configured to receive a shaft of an instrument. A cannula axis is aligned with the cannula when the cannula is coupled to the manipulator assembly. An instrument axis is aligned with the instrument when the instrument is coupled to the manipulator assembly. A controller coupled to the manipulator assembly is configured to receive an indication to reposition a remote center of motion (RCM) for the manipulator assembly while the RCM is positioned at a first location relative to the distal portion along an axis, wherein the axis is aligned with the cannula axis or the instrument axis; and in response to receiving the indication, cause the RCM to be positioned at a second location relative to the distal portion along the axis.

Inventors

Dinesh Rabindran
Katherine Suzanne Anderson
Nicholas Leo Bernstein
Simon Peter DiMaio
Catherine Mohr
Theodore W. Rogers
Kollin Myles Tierling
Andrew Cullen WATERBURY

Assignees

Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240220

Claims (20)

1 . A computer-assisted system comprising: a manipulator assembly configured to couple to a cannula at a distal portion of the manipulator assembly, the cannula having a lumen configured to receive a shaft of an instrument, wherein a cannula axis is aligned with the cannula when the cannula is coupled to the manipulator assembly, and wherein an instrument axis is aligned with the instrument when the instrument is coupled to the manipulator assembly; and a controller coupled to the manipulator assembly; wherein the controller is configured to: receive a first indication to reposition a remote center of motion for the manipulator assembly while the remote center of motion is positioned at a first location relative to the distal portion along a first axis, wherein the first axis is aligned with the cannula axis or the instrument axis, and in response to receiving the first indication, cause the remote center of motion to be positioned at a second location relative to the distal portion along the first axis, wherein the second location relative to the distal portion is different from the first location relative to the distal portion.
2 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the cannula axis is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the cannula or a longitudinal axis of the lumen, or wherein the instrument axis is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the shaft of the instrument.
3 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: in response to receiving a second indication to reposition the remote center of motion while the remote center of motion is positioned at the first location relative to the distal portion along the first axis, cause the remote center of motion to be positioned at a third location relative to the distal portion, wherein the third location is not along the first axis.
4 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: receive, after the remote center of motion has been positioned at the second location, a command to move the instrument according to a commanded motion; and command the instrument to move with a modified motion, the modified motion being based on the commanded motion and the second location.
5 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to constrain the second location to be along the cannula.
6 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: command the manipulator assembly to cause relative motion of the cannula and the instrument such that the first location and the second location are at a same location relative to the instrument.
7 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein to cause the remote center of motion to be positioned at the second location, the controller is further configured to: reposition the remote center of motion to the second location while limiting a speed of motion of the remote center of motion.
8 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: prevent repositioning of the remote center of motion in response to a force associated with the cannula exceeding a force limit.
9 . The computer-assisted system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to: move the cannula relative to a patient to modify a medical working space accessed by the lumen of the cannula.
10 . A method for positioning a remote center of motion for a manipulator assembly of a computer-assisted system, wherein the manipulator assembly is configured to couple to a cannula at a distal portion, wherein the cannula has a lumen configured to receive a shaft of an instrument, wherein a cannula axis is aligned with the cannula when the cannula is coupled to the manipulator assembly, and wherein an instrument axis is aligned with the instrument when the instrument is coupled to the manipulator assembly, the method comprising: receiving, by a controller of the computer-assisted system and while the remote center of motion is positioned at a first location relative to the distal portion along a first axis, a first indication to reposition the remote center of motion, wherein the first axis is aligned with the cannula axis or the instrument axis; and causing, in response to receiving the first indication and by the controller, the remote center of motion to be positioned at a second location relative to the distal portion along the first axis, wherein the second location is different from the first location relative to the distal portion.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the cannula axis is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the cannula or a longitudinal axis of the lumen, or wherein the instrument axis is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the instrument.
12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising: causing, in response to receiving a second indication to reposition the remote center of motion while the remote center of motion is positioned at the first location relative to the distal portion along the first axis and by the controller, the remote center of motion to be positioned at a third location relative to the distal portion, wherein the third location is not along the first axis.
13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising: constraining, by the controller, the second location to be along the cannula.
14 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising: commanding, by the controller, the manipulator assembly to cause relative motion of the cannula and the instrument relative to each other such that the first location and the second location are at a same location relative to the instrument.
15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein causing the remote center of motion to be positioned at the second location comprises: repositioning the remote center of motion to the second location while limiting a speed of motion of the remote center of motion.
16 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising: preventing, by the controller, repositioning of the remote center of motion in response to a force associated with the cannula exceeding a force limit.
17 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors associated with a computer-assisted system comprising a manipulator assembly, are adapted to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising: receiving, while a remote center of motion for the manipulator assembly of the computer-assisted system is positioned at a first location relative to a distal portion of the manipulator assembly along a first axis, an indication to reposition the remote center of motion, wherein the manipulator assembly is configured to couple to a cannula at the distal portion, wherein the cannula has a lumen configured to receive a shaft of an instrument, wherein a cannula axis is aligned with the cannula when the cannula is coupled to the manipulator assembly, wherein an instrument axis is aligned with the instrument when the instrument is coupled to the manipulator assembly, and wherein the first axis is aligned with the cannula axis or the instrument axis; and in response to receiving the indication, causing the remote center of motion to be positioned at a second location relative to the distal portion along the first axis, wherein the second location is different from the first location relative to the distal portion.
18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the cannula axis is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the cannula or a longitudinal axis of the lumen, or wherein the instrument axis is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the instrument.
19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein causing the remote center of motion to be positioned at the second location comprises: repositioning the remote center of motion to the second location while limiting a speed of motion of the remote center of motion.
20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises: preventing repositioning of the remote center of motion in response to a force associated with the cannula exceeding a force limit.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/160,851, filed Jan. 27, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/305,203, filed Nov. 28, 2018, which is a U.S. National Stage Application of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2017/036306, filed Jun. 7, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/347,961, filed Jun. 9, 2016. The disclosures of each of these prior applications is incorporated by reference in the disclosure of this application. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to systems and methods for minimally invasive computer-assisted tele-operated surgery. For example, the disclosure relates to methods for controlling motions of a robotic manipulator, cannula, and surgical instrument in various surgical contexts. BACKGROUND Robotic systems and computer-assisted devices often include robot or movable arms to manipulate instruments for performing a task at a work site and at least one robot or movable arm for supporting an image capturing device which captures images of the work site. A robot arm comprises a plurality of links coupled together by one or more actively controlled joints. In many embodiments, a plurality of actively controlled joints may be provided. The robot arm may also include one or more passive joints, which are not actively controlled, but comply with movement of an actively controlled joint. Such active and passive joints may be revolute or prismatic joints. The configuration of the robot arm may then be determined by the positions of the joints and knowledge of the structure and coupling of the links. Minimally invasive telesurgical systems for use in surgery are being developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity as well as to allow a surgeon to operate on a patient from a remote location. Telesurgery is a general term for surgical systems where the surgeon uses some form of remote control, e.g., a servomechanism, or the like, to manipulate surgical instrument movements rather than directly holding and moving the instruments by hand. In such a telesurgery system, the surgeon is provided with an image of the surgical site at the remote location. While viewing typically a three-dimensional image of the surgical site on a suitable viewer or display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master control input devices, which in turn control the motion of robotic instruments. The robotic surgical instruments can be inserted through small, minimally invasive surgical apertures to treat tissues at surgical sites within the patient, often the trauma associated with accessing for open surgery. These robotic systems can move the working ends or end-effectors of the surgical instruments with sufficient dexterity to perform quite intricate surgical tasks, often by pivoting shafts of the instruments at the minimally invasive aperture, sliding of the shaft axially through the aperture, rotating of the shaft within the aperture, and/or the like. SUMMARY This disclosure provides systems and methods for computer-assisted medical operations and non-medical operations. For example, the disclosure provides systems and methods for assisting minimally invasive computer-assisted tele-operated surgery (also referred to herein as “robotic surgery” and “computer-assisted surgery”). For example, the disclosure provides methods for controlling motions of the robotic manipulator, cannula, and surgical instrument in various surgical situations. In the context of minimally invasive computer-assisted tele-operated surgery, movements of the robotic manipulator assembly may be controlled by a processor of the system so that a shaft or intermediate portion of the surgical instrument is constrained to a safe motion through a minimally invasive surgical access site or other aperture. Such motion may include, for example, axial insertion of the shaft through the aperture site, rotation of the shaft about its axis, and pivotal motion of the shaft about a pivot point adjacent the access site, but will often preclude excessive lateral motion of the shaft which might otherwise tear the tissues adjacent the aperture or enlarge the access site inadvertently. Some or all of such constraint on the robotic manipulator assembly motion at the access site may be imposed using in part or in full using robotic data processing and control techniques. Such concepts for constraining, by a processor of the computer-assisted surgery system, the robotic manipulator assembly motion may be referred to herein as software-constrained remote center of motion. In some cases, methods using the software-constrained remote center of motion concepts for controlling of the robotic manipulator assembly can include locating, using a processor of the computer-assisted surgery system, the remote center of motion at locations other than on the cannula at the surgical access site. In one such