Patent Application
20250127577
The present disclosure generally relates to the optimization and improvement of surgical robotic systems having one or more modular movable carts each of which supports a robotic arm, and a surgeon console for controlling the carts and their respective arms. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a system and method of registering a plurality of arm carts on a graphical user interface displayed on a surgeon interactive display using a color-coded scheme.
Surgical robotic systems are currently being used in minimally invasive medical procedures. Some surgical robotic systems include a surgeon console controlling a surgical robotic arm and a surgical instrument having an end effector (e.g., forceps or grasping instrument) coupled to and actuated by the robotic arm. In operation, the robotic arm is moved to a position over a patient and then guides the surgical instrument into a small incision via a surgical port or a natural orifice of a patient to position the end effector at a work site within the patient's body.
While performing surgical procedures with multiple robotic arms that are supported on untethered movable surgical carts the relative positioning and operational status of each robotic arm can be difficult for users to associate with the actual surgical cart. Thus, there is a need to provide clinicians with easily decipherable accurate real-time information about the relative positioning and operational status of each robotic arm of the surgical robotic system.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a surgical robotic system is disclosed. The surgical robotic system includes a plurality of movable carts each of which may include a robotic arm and a cart color indicator configured to display a unique color. The system may also include a surgeon console having: a display configured to display a graphical user interface having a plurality of graphical representations each of which corresponds to one movable cart of the plurality of movable carts. Each of the graphical representations displays the unique color of the cart color indicator of the corresponding movable cart and a plurality of foot pedals configured to control the robotic arms. Each of the plurality of foot pedals may include a pedal color indicator, where each of the pedal color indicators may be configured to display the unique color of the cart color indicator of a movable cart based on a foot pedal assignment.
Implementations of the above embodiment may include one or more of the following features. According to one aspect of the above embodiment, each of the cart color indicator and the pedal color indicator may include at least one light emitting diode. The system may also include a control tower configured to control the robotic arm of each movable cart of the plurality of movable carts based on a user input received at the surgeon console. The control tower may be configured to assign the unique color to each of the cart color indicators. The control tower may be also configured to assign the unique color to each of the cart color indicators based on a user selection. The display may be a touchscreen and each graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations may be movable on the touchscreen.
According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a surgical robotic system is disclosed. The surgical robotic system may include a plurality of movable carts each of which may include a robotic arm and a cart color indicator configured to display a unique color. The system may also include a surgeon console having a display configured to display a graphical user interface having a plurality of graphical representations, each of which corresponds to one movable cart of the plurality of movable carts, where each of the graphical representations displays the unique color of the cart color indicator of the corresponding movable cart.
Implementations of the above embodiment may include one or more of the following features. According to one aspect of the above embodiment, the cart color indicator may include at least one light emitting diode. The surgeon console further may include a plurality of foot pedals configured to control the robotic arms. Each of the plurality of foot pedals may include a pedal color indicator. Each of the pedal color indicators may be configured to display the unique color of the cart color indicator of a movable cart based on a foot pedal assignment. The pedal color indicator may include at least one light emitting diode. The controller may be configured to control the robotic arm of each movable cart of the plurality of movable carts based on a user input received at the surgeon console. The controller may be configured to assign the unique color to each of the cart color indicators. The controller may be configured to assign the unique color to each of the cart color indicators based on a user selection. The display may be a touchscreen and each graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations may be movable on the touchscreen.
According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling a surgical robotic system is disclosed. The method may include selecting a unique color for each cart color indicator of a movable cart of a plurality of movable carts. The method may also include outputting on a display of a surgeon console a graphical user interface may include a plurality of graphical representations each of which corresponds to one movable cart of the plurality of movable carts, where each of the graphical representations displays the unique color of the cart color indicator of the corresponding movable cart.
Implementations of the above embodiment may include one or more of the following features. According to one aspect of the above embodiment, the method may also include assigning at one or more pedals to each robotic arm, each of which is disposed on one movable cart of the plurality of carts. The method may further include displaying on a pedal color indicator the unique color of the cart color indicator of a movable cart based on a foot pedal assignment.
Various aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the drawings wherein:
The term “application” may include a computer program designed to perform functions, tasks, or activities for the benefit of a user. Application may refer to, for example, software running locally or remotely, as a standalone program or in a web browser, or other software which would be understood by one skilled in the art to be an application. An application may run on a controller, or on a user device, including, for example, a mobile device, a personal computer, or a server system.
As will be described in detail below, the present disclosure is directed to a surgical robotic system, which includes a surgeon console, a control tower, and one or more movable carts having a surgical robotic arm coupled to a setup arm. The surgeon console receives user input through one or more interface devices, which are interpreted by the control tower as movement commands for moving the surgical robotic arm. The surgical robotic arm includes a controller, which is configured to process the movement command and to generate a torque command for activating one or more actuators of the robotic arm, which would, in turn, move the robotic arm in response to the movement command.
With reference to
The surgical instrument 50 is configured for use during minimally invasive surgical procedures. In aspects, the surgical instrument 50 may be configured for open surgical procedures. In aspects, the surgical instrument 50 may be an endoscope, such as an endoscopic camera 51, configured to provide a video feed for the user. In further aspects, the surgical instrument 50 may be an electrosurgical forceps configured to seal tissue by compressing tissue between jaw members and applying electrosurgical current thereto. In yet further aspects, the surgical instrument 50 may be a surgical stapler including a pair of jaws configured to grasp and clamp tissue while deploying a plurality of tissue fasteners, e.g., staples, and cutting stapled tissue.
One of the robotic arms 40 may include the endoscopic camera 51 configured to capture video of the surgical site. The endoscopic camera 51 may be a stereoscopic endoscope configured to capture two side-by-side (i.e., left and right) images of the surgical site to produce a video stream of the surgical scene. The endoscopic camera 51 is coupled to a video processing device 56, which may be disposed within the control tower 20. The video processing device 56 may be any computing device as described below configured to receive the video feed from the endoscopic camera 51 perform the image processing based on the depth estimating algorithms of the present disclosure and output the processed video stream.
The surgeon console 30 includes a first display 32, which displays a video feed of the surgical site provided by camera 51 of the surgical instrument 50 disposed on the robotic arms 40, and a second display 34, which displays a user interface for controlling the surgical robotic system 10. The first and second displays 32 and 34 are touchscreens allowing for displaying various graphical user inputs. The video processing device 56 is configured to process the video feed from the endoscopic camera 51 and to output a processed video stream on the first displays 32 of the surgeon console 30 and/or the display 23 of the control tower 20.
The surgeon console 30 also includes a plurality of user interface devices, such as foot pedals 36 and a pair of handle controllers 38a and 38b which are used by a user to remotely control robotic arms 40. The surgeon console further includes an armrest 33 used to support clinician's arms while operating the handle controllers 38a and 38b.
The control tower 20 includes a display 23, which may be a touchscreen, and outputs on the graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The control tower 20 also acts as an interface between the surgeon console 30 and one or more robotic arms 40. In particular, the control tower 20 is configured to control the robotic arms 40, such as to move the robotic arms 40 and the corresponding surgical instrument 50, based on a set of programmable instructions and/or input commands from the surgeon console 30, in such a way that robotic arms 40 and the surgical instrument 50 execute a desired movement sequence in response to input from the foot pedals 36 and the handle controllers 38a and 38b.
Each of the control tower 20, the surgeon console 30, and the robotic arm 40 includes a respective computer 21, 31, 41. The computers 21, 31, 41 are interconnected to each other using any suitable communication network based on wired or wireless communication protocols. The term “network,” whether plural or singular, as used herein, denotes a data network, including, but not limited to, the Internet, Intranet, a wide area network, or a local area networks, and without limitation as to the full scope of the definition of communication networks as encompassed by the present disclosure. Suitable protocols include, but are not limited to, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), datagram protocol/internet protocol (UDP/IP), and/or datagram congestion control protocol (DCCP). Wireless communication may be achieved via one or more wireless configurations, e.g., radio frequency, optical, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (an open wireless protocol for exchanging data over short distances, using short length radio waves, from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs), ZigBee® (a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 122.15.4-2003 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs)).
The computers 21, 31, 41 may include any suitable processor (not shown) operably connected to a memory (not shown), which may include one or more of volatile, non-volatile, magnetic, optical, or electrical media, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electrically-erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), or flash memory. The processor may be any suitable processor (e.g., control circuit) adapted to perform the operations, calculations, and/or set of instructions described in the present disclosure including, but not limited to, a hardware processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, and combinations thereof. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the processor may be substituted for by using any logic processor (e.g., control circuit) adapted to execute algorithms, calculations, and/or set of instructions described herein.
With reference to
The setup arm 62 includes a first link 62a, a second link 62b, and a third link 62c, which provide for lateral maneuverability of the robotic arm 40. The links 62a, 62b, 62c are interconnected at joints 63a and 63b, each of which may include an actuator (not shown) for rotating the links 62b and 62b relative to each other and the link 62c. In particular, the links 62a, 62b, 62c are movable in their corresponding lateral planes that are parallel to each other, thereby allowing for extension of the robotic arm 40 relative to the patient (e.g., surgical table). In aspects, the robotic arm 40 may be coupled to a surgical table 100 (
The third link 62c includes a rotatable base 64 having two degrees of freedom. In particular, the rotatable base 64 includes a first actuator 64a and a second actuator 64b. The first actuator 64a is rotatable about a first stationary arm axis which is perpendicular to a plane defined by the third link 62c and the second actuator 64b is rotatable about a second stationary arm axis which is transverse to the first stationary arm axis. The first and second actuators 64a and 64b allow for full three-dimensional orientation of the robotic arm 40.
The actuator 48b of the joint 44b is coupled to the joint 44c via the belt 45a, and the joint 44c is in turn coupled to the joint 46c via the belt 45b. Joint 44c may include a transfer case coupling the belts 45a and 45b, such that the actuator 48b is configured to rotate each of the links 42b, 42c and the holder 46 relative to each other. More specifically, links 42b, 42c, and the holder 46 are passively coupled to the actuator 48b which enforces rotation about a pivot point “P” which lies at an intersection of the first axis defined by the link 42a and the second axis defined by the holder 46. Thus, the actuator 48b controls the angle θ between the first and second axes allowing for orientation of the surgical instrument 50. Due to the interlinking of the links 42a, 42b, 42c, and the holder 46 via the belts 45a and 45b, the angles between the links 42a, 42b, 42c, and the holder 46 are also adjusted in order to achieve the desired angle θ. In aspects, some or all of the joints 44a, 44b, 44c may include an actuator to obviate the need for mechanical linkages.
The joints 44a and 44b include an actuator 48a and 48b configured to drive the joints 44a, 44b, 44c relative to each other through a series of belts 45a and 45b or other mechanical linkages such as a drive rod, a cable, or a lever and the like. In particular, the actuator 48a is configured to rotate the robotic arm 40 about a longitudinal axis defined by the link 42a.
With reference to
The robotic arm 40 also includes a plurality of manual override buttons 53 (
With reference to
The computer 41 includes a plurality of controllers, namely, a main cart controller 41a, a setup arm controller 41b, a robotic arm controller 41c, and an instrument drive unit (IDU) controller 41d. The main cart controller 41a receives and processes joint commands from the controller 21a of the computer 21 and communicates them to the setup arm controller 41b, the robotic arm controller 41c, and the IDU controller 41d. The main cart controller 41a also manages instrument exchanges and the overall state of the movable cart 60, the robotic arm 40, and the IDU 52. The main cart controller 41a also communicates actual joint angles back to the controller 21a.
The setup arm controller 41b controls each of joints 63a and 63b, and the rotatable base 64 of the setup arm 62 and calculates desired motor movement commands (e.g., motor torque) for the pitch axis and controls the brakes. The robotic arm controller 41c controls each joint 44a and 44b of the robotic arm 40 and calculates desired motor torques required for gravity compensation, friction compensation, and closed loop position control of the robotic arm 40. The robotic arm controller 41c calculates a movement command based on the calculated torque. The calculated motor commands are then communicated to one or more of the actuators 48a and 48b in the robotic arm 40. The actual joint positions are then transmitted by the actuators 48a and 48b back to the robotic arm controller 41c.
The IDU controller 41d receives desired joint angles for the surgical instrument 50, such as wrist and jaw angles, and computes desired currents for the motors in the IDU 52. The IDU controller 41d calculates actual angles based on the motor positions and transmits the actual angles back to the main cart controller 41a.
The robotic arm 40 is controlled in response to a pose of the handle controller controlling the robotic arm 40, e.g., the handle controller 38a, which is transformed into a desired pose of the robotic arm 40 through a hand eye transform function executed by the controller 21a. The hand eye function, as well as other functions described herein, is/are embodied in software executable by the controller 21a or any other suitable controller described herein. The pose of one of the handle controller 38a may be embodied as a coordinate position and role-pitch-yaw (“RPY”) orientation relative to a coordinate reference frame, which is fixed to the surgeon console 30. The desired pose of the instrument 50 is relative to a fixed frame on the robotic arm 40. The pose of the handle controller 38a is then scaled by a scaling function executed by the controller 21a. In aspects, the coordinate position is scaled down and the orientation is scaled up by the scaling function. In addition, the controller 21a also executes a clutching function, which disengages the handle controller 38a from the robotic arm 40. In particular, the controller 21a stops transmitting movement commands from the handle controller 38a to the robotic arm 40 if certain movement limits or other thresholds are exceeded and in essence acts like a virtual clutch mechanism, e.g., limits mechanical input from effecting mechanical output.
The desired pose of the robotic arm 40 is based on the pose of the handle controller 38a and is then passed by an inverse kinematics function executed by the controller 21a. The inverse kinematics function calculates angles for the joints 44a, 44b, 44c of the robotic arm 40 that achieve the scaled and adjusted pose input by the handle controller 38a. The calculated angles are then passed to the robotic arm controller 41c, which includes a joint axis controller having a proportional-derivative (PD) controller, the friction estimator module, the gravity compensator module, and a two-sided saturation block, which is configured to limit the commanded torque of the motors of the joints 44a, 44b, 44c.
With reference to
During setup, each of the carts 60a-d are positioned around the surgical table 100. Position and orientation of the carts 60a-d depends on a plurality of factors, such as placement of a plurality of ports 55a-d, which in turn, depends on the surgery being performed. Once the port placement is determined, the ports 55a-d are inserted into the patient, and carts 60a-d are positioned to insert instruments 50 and the endoscopic camera 51 into corresponding ports 55a-d. Orientation of the carts 60a-d and their corresponding robotic arms 40a-d may be based on individual laser alignment patterns 104a-d. For a more detailed description of using alignment patterns to orient a plurality of movable carts 60 see International Application No. PCT/US2021/034125, titled “SURGICAL ROBOTIC SYSTEM USER INTERFACES”, filed on May 26, 2021, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Once the movable carts 60a-d are placed at their desired positions, the surgeon or any other personnel registers each of the robotic arms 40a-d on a graphical user interface (GUI) 150, which may be displayed on the second display 34 or any other display of the surgical robotic system 10, e.g., displays 23 or 32. With reference to
To aid in registration of the robotic arms 40a-d and their associated instruments 50 and the camera 51, each of the graphical representations 152a-c and the orientation indicator 160 match the color of the color indicators 102a-d. Thus, the graphical representations 152a-d and the orientation indicator 160 adopt the color of the color indicators 102a-d. The GUI 150 also shows a bed map 120 showing a surgical table 100 and each of the robotic arms 40a-d represented as arrows 130a-d. Similar to the graphical representations 152a-c, the arrows 130a-d also match the color of the color indicators 102a-d.
As noted above, the second display 34 is a touchscreen, which allows for moving the graphical representations 152a-d between the regions 153a-d by pressing, holding, and moving or using any other suitable touch gesture, e.g., moving the graphical representation 152a from the region 153a to any of the other regions 153b-d. This assigns the instrument to a desired one of the hand controllers 38a and 38b, designated as “LEFT HAND” and “RIGHT HAND,” respectively. As the icons are moved between any of the graphical representations 152a-c, the user can confirm the actual physical location of the instruments 50 and their corresponding robotic arms 40a-d by matching the colors displayed on the GUI 150 to the colors on the color indicators 102a-d regardless of which graphical representation 152a-d is being used.
In addition to color coding the GUI 150, the color indicators 102a-d may be also programmed to match the color of the foot pedals 36. Each of the robotic arms 40a-d may be controlled by a subset of the foot pedals 36. Each of the foot pedals 36 includes a color indicator 37, which may include one or more LEDs disposed in any suitable on or adjacent the foot pedals 36 (e.g., a ring). The number and which specific foot pedals 36 are assigned to each of the robotic arms 40a-c depends on the type of instrument 50 or endoscopic camera 51 attached to the robotic arms 40a-d. The controller 21a may automatically assign a subset of the foot pedals 36 to each of the robotic arms 40a-d. Once assigned, the color indicators 37 are lit up based on the color of the color indicators 102a-d.
With reference to
Each of the movable carts 60a-d is then positioned at step 204 around the surgical table 100 as described above. Once positioning is confirmed, at step 206 the GUI 150, including the graphical representations 152a-d and the orientation indicator 160, adopts the colors of the color indicators 102a-d allowing for cross-reference by the surgical personnel. In addition, at step 208 the color indicators 37 of the foot pedals 36 as selected by the controller 21 also adopt the corresponding color of one of the color indicators 102a-d to allow for matching the foot pedals 36 to one of the corresponding robotic arms 40a-d.
It will be understood that various modifications may be made to the aspects disclosed herein. In aspects, the color-coded relative position, angular orientation, and operational status of each robotic arm may also be simultaneously viewable on multiple displays. Therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplifications of various aspects. Those skilled in the art will envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of the claims appended thereto.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2022/057905 | 8/23/2022 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63237705 | Aug 2021 | US |
