Verb Surgical Inc.

Haoran Yu

Renbin Zhou

Bernard Fai Kin Siu

Sina Nia Kosari

Pablo E Garcia Kilroy

Eric Mark Johnson

Ellen Klingbeil

Alireza Hariri

Apoorv Shrivastava

Omar J Vakharia

Andrea Bajo

Alex Kiturkes

Ali Asadian

Hasan Tutkun Sen

H Tutkun Sen

Seungkook Nia Yun

Bernard Fai Siu

Pablo Eduardo Garcia Kilroy

Engaging and/or homing is provided for a motor control of a surgical tool in a surgical robotic system. Where two or more motors are to control the same motion, the motors may be used to detect engagement even where no physical stop is provided. The motors operate in opposition to each other or in a way that does not attempt the same motion, resulting in one of the motors acting as a stop for the other motor in engagement. A change in motor operation then indicates the engagement. The known angles of engaged motors and the transmission linking the motor drives to the surgical tool indicate the home or current position of the surgical tool.

Engagement and/or homing of a surgical tool in a surgical robotic system

For a scalable filtering infrastructure, a library of filters each usable at different control rates is provided by defining filters in a continuous time mode despite eventual use for digital filtering. For implementation, a filter is selected and discretized for the desired control rate. The discretized filter is then deployed as a discrete time realization for convolution. In a distributed system with multiple control rates, the library may be used to more rapidly and conveniently generate the desired filters.

Scalable filtering infrastructure for variable control rates in a distributed system such as a surgical robotic system

A method for controlling a robotic arm in a robotic surgical system includes defining a reference plane at a predetermined reference location for a robotic arm, where the robotic arm includes a plurality of joints, and driving at least one of the plurality of joints to guide the robotic arm through a series of predetermined poses substantially constrained within the reference plane.

Control modes and processes for positioning of a robotic manipulator

A virtual reality system providing a virtual robotic surgical environment, and methods for using the virtual reality system, are described herein. Within the virtual reality system, various user modes enable different kinds of interactions between a user and the virtual robotic surgical environment. For example, one variation of a method for facilitating navigation of a virtual robotic surgical environment includes displaying a first-person perspective view of the virtual robotic surgical environment from a first vantage point, displaying a first window view of the virtual robotic surgical environment from a second vantage point and displaying a second window view of the virtual robotic surgical environment from a third vantage point. Additionally, in response to a user input associating the first and second window views, a trajectory between the second and third vantage points can be generated sequentially linking the first and second window views.

Emulation of robotic arms and control thereof in a virtual reality environment

A system and computerized method for detection of engagement of a surgical tool to a tool drive of a robotic arm of a surgical robotic system. The method may include activating an actuator of the tool drive to rotate a drive disk to be mechanically engaged with a tool disk in the surgical tool. One or more motor operating parameters of the actuator that is causing the rotation of the drive disk are monitored while activating the actuator. The method detects when the drive disk becomes mechanically engaged with the tool disk, based on the one or more monitored motor operating parameters. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Method and system for engagement of a surgical tool with actuators of a tool drive in a surgical robotic system

A surgical robotic system has a surgical robotic arm, and a programmed processor that determines a longest principal axis of a velocity ellipsoid for a first configuration of the arm, applies a maximum task space velocity (that is in the direction of the longest principal axis) to an inverse kinematics equation which computes a potential joint space velocity, computes a ratio of i) the potential joint space velocity and ii) a joint space velocity limit of the arm, and applies the ratio to an initial joint space velocity, to produce a regulated joint space velocity. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

Regulating joint space velocity of a surgical robotic arm

A surgical robotic system has a robotic grasper, a user interface device (UID), and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the UID and the robotic grasper. The system detects a directive to engage or re-engage a teleoperation mode, determines that the system is in a non-teleoperation mode, receives a sequence of user actions through the UID, determines the UID matches a jaw angle or a grip force of the robotic grasper, and transitions into teleoperation mode. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Unmatching/matching interface device to robot grasper for engaging teleoperation

A first input coupling and a second input coupling are coupled to rotatably drive an output coupling at the same time. In one embodiment, the output coupling rotates a robotic surgery endoscope about a longitudinal axis of the output coupling. A first motor drives the first input coupling while being assisted by a second motor that is driving the second input coupling. A first compensator produces a first motor input based on a position error and in accordance with a position control law, and a second compensator produces a second motor input based on the position error and in accordance with an impedance control law. In another embodiment, the second compensator receives a measured torque of the first motor. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Surgical robotic tool multi-motor actuator and controller

For teleoperation of a surgical robotic system, the control of the surgical robotic system accounts for a limited degree of freedom of a tool in a surgical robotic system. A projection from the greater DOF of the user input commands to the lesser DOF of the tool is included within or as part of the inverse kinematics. The projection identifies feasible motion in the end-effector domain. This projection allows for a general solution that works for tools having different degrees of freedom and will converge on a solution.

Projection operator for inverse kinematics of a surgical robot for low degree of freedom tools

For teleoperation of a surgical robotic system, the user command for the pose of the end effector is projected into a subspace reachable by the end effector. For example, a user command with six DOF is projected to a five DOF subspace. The six DOF user interface device may be used to more intuitively control, based on the projection, the end effector with the limited DOF relative to the user interface device.

Projection of user interface pose command to reduced degree of freedom space for a surgical robot

Various approaches to solve for inverse kinematics may be used for teleoperation of a surgical robotic system. In one approach, an iterative solver solves for the linear component of motion independently from solving for the angular component of motion. One solver may be used to solve for both together. In another approach, all limits (e.g., position, velocity, and acceleration) are handled in one solution. Where a limit is reached, the limit is used as a bound in the intermediate solution, allowing solution even where a bound is reached. In another approach, a ratio of limits of position are used to create a slow-down region near the bounds to more naturally control motion. In yet another approach, the medical-based teleoperation uses a bounded Gauss-Siedel solver, such as with successive-over-relaxation.

Inverse kinematics of a surgical robot for teleoperation with hardware constraints

A virtual reality system providing a virtual robotic surgical environment, and methods for using the virtual reality system, are described herein. The virtual reality system may be used to expedite the R&D cycle during development of a robotic surgical system, such as by allowing simulation of potential design without the time and significant expense of physical prototypes. The virtual reality system may also be used to test a control algorithm or a control mode for a robotic surgical component.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Haoran Yu