Cmr Surgical Limited

Cambridge Medical Robotics Limited

Luke David Ronald Hares

Keith Marshall

Steven James Randle

Ben Robert Chaplin

Thomas Bates Jackson

Nikki Priyam Su-Ling Phoolchund

Paul Christopher Roberts

Gordon Thomas Deane

Rebecca Anne Cuthbertson

Graham John Veitch

Andrew Murray Scholan

Edward James Wildin Tucker

Ross Hamilton Henrywood

Rupert Menzies

Rachel Marie Garsed

Mark Clifford Slack

Duncan Robinson

Andrew Robert Mawby

James Oliver Grant

David William Haydn Webster-Smith

Systems and methods for controlling a surgical robot comprising a base, and an arm extending from the base to an attachment for an instrument, the arm comprising a plurality of joints whereby the configuration of the arm can be altered. The system includes: a display device configured to present a view of a virtual scene to an operator of the virtual reality display device, the virtual scene comprising a virtual screen on which a representation of a real-time video stream of a surgical site is displayed; an input tracking system configured to track a position of one or more free-space inputs in space; and a control unit configured to translate the tracked position of the one or more inputs free-space into one or more control signals to control the position of the arm of the surgical robot.

Virtual console for controlling a surgical robot

A surgical robot comprising an articulated arm, the arm having a terminal portion comprising: a distal segment having an attachment for a surgical instrument; an intermediate segment; and a basal segment whereby the terminal portion is attached to the remainder of the arm; a first articulation between the distal segment and the intermediate segment, the first articulation permitting relative rotation of the distal segment and the intermediate segment about a first axis; and a second articulation between the intermediate segment and the basal segment, the second articulation permitting relative rotation of the intermediate segment and the basal segment about a second axis; wherein: the intermediate segment comprises a third articulation permitting relative rotation of the distal segment and the basal segment about third and fourth axes; and the first, second and third articulations are arranged such that in at least one configuration of the third articulation the first and second axes are parallel and the third and fourth axes are transverse to the first axis.

Surgical arm

A surgical robotic component comprising an articulated terminal portion, the terminal portion comprising: a distal segment having an attachment connected thereto, an intermediate segment, and a basal segment whereby the terminal portion is attached to the remainder of the surgical robotic component. The terminal portion further comprises a first articulation between the distal segment and the intermediate segment, the first articulation permitting relative rotation of the distal segment and the intermediate segment about a first axis, and a second articulation between the intermediate segment and the basal segment, the second articulation permitting relative rotation of the intermediate segment and the basal segment about a second axis. The intermediate segment comprises: a third articulation permitting relative rotation of the distal segment and the basal segment about third and fourth axes, a first torque sensor configured to sense torque about the third axis, and a second torque sensor configured to sense torque about the fourth axis. The first, second and third articulations are arranged such that in at least one configuration of the third articulation the first and second axes are parallel and the third and fourth axes are transverse to the first axis.

Torque sensing in a surgical robotic wrist

A surgical robotic system for augmenting a representation of at least a portion of a surgical site for aiding in orienting the representation is disclosed. The system can receive an imaging device signal indicative of the location and orientation of an imaging device relative to a surgical site. The system can augment a representation of at least a portion of the surgical site depending on the received imaging device signal. The system further can receive a further imaging device signal indicative of an updated location and/or orientation of the imaging device. The system can determine a change in at least one of the location and orientation of the imaging device in dependence on the imaging device signal and the further imaging device signal. The system additionally can update the augmented representation in dependence on the determined change; and a display configured to display at least part of the augmented representation.

Navigational aid

A control system for a surgical robotic system, the surgical robotic system comprising a remote surgeon console and an articulated surgical robot arm comprising a series of joints extending from a base to a terminal end for attaching to an articulated surgical instrument. The control system comprises a central controller communicatively coupled to and remotely located from an arm controller of the surgical robot arm, the central controller also communicatively coupled to a surgeon input device of the surgeon console. The central controller is configured to: receive a command from the surgeon input device indicating a desired position of a distal end of the surgical instrument; transform the desired position of the distal end to (i) a desired wrist position of a wrist of the surgical robot arm, and (ii) desired instrument drive joint positions for those joints of the surgical robot arm which drive joints of the articulated surgical instrument; and transmit the desired wrist position and desired instrument drive joint positions to the arm controller.

Controlling movement of a surgical robot arm

A surgical robot arm extending between a base and a terminal link, the terminal link connected to an adjacent link in the surgical robot arm by a joint which permits the terminal link to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the terminal link, the terminal link comprising: a drive assembly having a first drive assembly interface element for driving a first instrument interface element of a robotic surgical instrument when the surgical robot arm engages the robotic surgical instrument, the first drive assembly interface element engageable with the first instrument interface element on the longitudinal axis of the terminal link, and the first drive assembly interface element being linearly displaceable along the longitudinal axis of the terminal link so as to drive the first instrument interface element along the longitudinal axis of the terminal link.

Drive assembly interface

A control system for controlling a surgical robot by a surgeon console remote from the surgical robot, the control system being configured to: receive one or more state signal associated with a plurality of instruments, each of the plurality of instruments being attachable to the surgical robot, the one or more state signal indicating a selectability of each of the plurality of instruments for control by the surgeon console, and a control mode of each of the plurality of instruments from a group of modes, the group of modes comprising a manipulation mode in which an instrument of the plurality of instruments is controllable by the surgeon console, and a selection mode in which an instrument of the plurality of instruments is selectable for control by the surgeon console; determine a graphical arrangement of icons for display in dependence on the received one or more state signal, where each icon represents a respective one of the plurality of instruments, and output a display signal to cause the graphical arrangement of icons to be displayed; receive a mode change signal.

Control system for controlling a surgical robot

A control system for controlling manipulation of a surgical instrument in response to manipulation of a remote surgeon input device at a remote surgeon's console, the surgical instrument being supported by a surgical robot arm, the surgical instrument comprising an end effector connected to a distal end of a shaft by an articulated coupling, the articulated coupling comprising one or more joints enabling the end effector to adopt a range of attitudes relative to the distal end of the shaft, the control system configured to: receive a command from an input actuated by a user to straighten the surgical instrument; and in response to the received command, to command driving forces to be applied to joint(s) of the articulated coupling to drive the instrument to adopt a predetermined configuration in which the profile of the end effector is most closely aligned with the profile of the distal end of the shaft.

Controlling a surgical instrument

A system for providing assistance to a user of a surgical robot system, the system comprising: a surgical robot system comprising at least one surgical robot having a base, and an arm extending from the base to an attachment for an instrument, the arm comprising a plurality of joints whereby the configuration of the arm can be altered; and an assistance module comprising a list of steps of a task for which procedural assistance can be provided, the assistance module being configured to: receive, while the surgical robot system is being used to perform the task, status data indicating a status of the surgical robot system; determine, from the status data, whether the surgical robot system is in a procedural assistance state, the surgical robot system being in a procedural assistance state when the surgical robot system is being, or, is about to be, used to perform one of the steps of the task for which procedural assistance can be provided; and in response to determining that the surgical robot system is in a procedural assistance state, cause the surgical robot system to provide procedural assistance to the user in performing the step of the task while the surgical robot system is being used to perform the task.

Methods and systems for providing assistance to a user of a surgical robot system

A method of real-time image correction of a video stream from a surgical endoscope of a surgical robotic system. The video stream comprises a sequence of images. The method comprises: for an image in the sequence of images, identifying a plurality of regions, each region having a different range of values of at least one image property to another region; applying a mask to the image which applies a region-specific modification to each region, each region-specific modification modifying the at least one image property of that region; deriving data from the surgical robotic system; determining a relationship between features in the image from the derived data; modifying the mask for a predicted relationship between the features at the time of a subsequent image in the video stream; and applying the modified mask to the subsequent image in the video stream.

Image correction of a surgical endoscope video stream

A robotic system comprises two robots and a control unit. Each robot has a base and an arm extending from the base to an attachment for an instrument. Each arm comprises a plurality of joints whereby the configuration of the arm can be altered. Each robot comprises a driver for each joint configured to drive the joint to move, and position and torque sensors. The control unit controls the drivers in dependence on inputs from the sensors. The control unit: determines the gravitational torques on the joints of the arms of the robots in the arm configurations indicated from the inputs from the position sensors; from the inputs from the torque sensors and the determined gravitational torques, determines residual torques on the joints of the arms of the robots in the indicated arm configurations; calculate a candidate force for each arm which when applied to that arm would cause the determined residual torques; and determines a collision if a candidate force on the arm of the first robot balances an opposing candidate force on the arm of the second robot.

Detecting collisions of robot arms

A robotic surgical instrument comprising a shaft, an articulated section and a drive mechanism. The articulated section extends from the shaft and terminates at its distal end in a tip. The tip has an attachment for an end effector. The drive mechanism drives the articulated section via flexible driving elements thereby altering the angular orientation of the tip relative to the shaft. The drive mechanism is controlled so as to always fully compress the articulated section along at least one extent by which the articulated section connects the tip and the shaft whilst driving the articulated section from any one configuration to any other configuration. The drive mechanism constrains movement of the articulated section so as to permit the tip to move with two degrees of rotational freedom and no degrees of translational freedom relative to the shaft.

Flexible robotic surgical instrument

A control system configured to control manipulation of a surgical instrument in response to manipulation of a remote surgeon input device, the surgical instrument comprising opposable first and second end effector elements connected to a shaft by an articulated coupling, the articulated coupling comprising a first joint driveable by a first pair of driving elements so as to permit the first end effector element to rotate, and a second joint driveable by a second pair of driving elements so as to permit the second end effector element to rotate, the control system configured to: detect a change of configuration of the surgeon input device to a gripping configuration at time t; respond to the change of configuration of the surgeon input device to the gripping configuration by commanding gripping forces to be applied to the first and second pairs of driving elements, so as to cause the first and second end effector elements to rotate in opposing rotational directions towards each other with a gripping closing force to a closed configuration; and if the first and second end effector elements are still in the closed configuration at time t+T, commanding a reduction in the force applied to the first and second pairs of driving elements, thereby causing the first and second end effector elements to subsequently be held in a further closed configuration with a reduced closing force.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Luke David Ronald Hares