Repositioning and reorientation of master/slave relationship in minimally invasive telesurgery

• US 20020128552A1
• Filed: 01/15/2002
• Published: 09/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Incorporated (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Guthart, Gary S., Niemeyer, Gunter D., Salisbury, J. Kenneth Jr., Nowlin, William C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,087,049 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/427
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/305 Details of wrist mechanisms at distal ends of robotic arms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/742 Joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/35 for telesurgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/37 Master-slave robots A61B34/35 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/70 Manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/361 Image-producing devices, e.g. surgical cameras

Abstract

The invention provides robotic surgical systems which allow selectable independent repositioning of an input handle of a master controller and/or a surgical end effector without corresponding movement of the other. In some embodiments, independent repositioning is limited to translational degrees of freedom. In other embodiments, the system provides an input device adjacent a manipulator supporting the surgical instrument so that an assistant can reposition the instrument at the patient'"'"'s side.

Claims

1. A robotic surgical system including

a surgical manipulator system having a manipulator movably supporting at least one surgical instrument with a plurality of degrees of freedom of movement;

a master controller workstation operatively associated with the manipulator to cause selective movement of the instrument in response to inputs from a system operator at the workstation; and

a selectively activatable repositioning system configured to interrupt the operative association between the workstation and the manipulator so that the surgical instrument can be moved from one position to another, and to reestablish the operative association after the surgical instrument has been repositioned.

2. The robotic surgical system of claim 1, wherein the input device is mounted to the manipulator and is configured so that the surgical instrument is movable while the input device is held, and wherein the repositioning system reestablishes the operative association when the input device is released.

3. The robotic surgical system of claim 1, wherein the surgical instrument comprises an image capture device.

4. The robotic surgical system of claim 1, wherein the surgical instrument comprises a surgical tool having an end effector configured to treat tissue.

5. A robotic surgical system comprising:

a surgical manipulator system having a moveable image capture device for capturing an image of a surgical site and at least one medical instrument having a plurality of degrees of freedom of movement;

a workstation having a display operatively connected to the image capture device to display the surgical site, at least one master control device operatively associated with the medical instrument to cause selective movement of the instrument in response to inputs to the master control device, and an image capture device control system operatively associated with the image capture device to cause selective movement of the image capture device; and

a selectively activatable repositioning system configured to interrupt the operative association between the image capture device control and the image capture device so that the image capture device can be moved from one position to another and to reestablish the operative association after the image capture device has been repositioned.