SURGICAL ROBOT AND SURGICAL ROBOT CONTROL METHOD

• US 20140142592A1
• Filed: 06/19/2013
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Ha, Tae Sin, MOON, Kyung Won
• Granted Patent: US 9,107,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/37 Master-slave robots A61B34/35 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/76 Manipulators having means for providing feel, e.g. force or tactile feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/77 Manipulators with motion or force scaling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/08 Robot

Abstract

A surgical robot and a surgical robot control method ensure a stable change of an operation mode. The surgical robot includes a master device having an input unit, a slave device having at least one robotic surgical instrument that is remotely controlled by the master device, and a controller that performs a mode change process to gradually vary the strength of a feedback signal fed back from the slave device to the input unit for a predetermined time when a signal for a change of an operation mode is input via the input unit.

Claims

1. A surgical robot comprising:

a master device having an input unit;

a slave device having at least one robotic surgical instrument remotely controlled by the master device; and

a controller to perform a mode change process to gradually vary a strength of a feedback signal fed back from the slave device to the input unit for a predetermined time when a signal for change of an operation mode is input via the input unit.

2. The surgical robot according to claim 1, wherein the operation mode is any one of a force feedback mode that feeds back force generated in the at least one robotic surgical instrument via interaction with the external environment to the master device, and a non-force feedback mode that does not feed back the force generated in the at least one robotic surgical instrument to the master device.

3. The surgical robot according to claim 2, wherein the controller gradually decreases the strength of the feedback signal fed back to the input unit for the predetermined time using a decreasing scaling function if the operation mode is changed from a force feedback mode to a non-force feedback mode.

4. The surgical robot according to claim 3, wherein an output value of the decreasing scaling function varies from 1 to 0 for the predetermined time.

5. The surgical robot according to claim 3, wherein the decreasing scaling function is selected by an operator of the surgical robot from among a plurality of pre-stored decreasing scaling functions.

6. The surgical robot according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined time is changeable by an operator of the surgical robot.

7. The surgical robot according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined time varies according to the strength of the feedback signal fed back to the input unit.

8. The surgical robot according to claim 3, wherein the decreasing scaling function is non-linear.

9. The surgical robot according to claim 2, wherein the controller gradually increases the strength of the feedback signal fed back to the input unit for the predetermined time using an increasing scaling function if the operation mode is changed from a non-force feedback mode to a force feedback mode.

10. The surgical robot according to claim 9, wherein an output value of the increasing scaling function varies from 0 to 1 for the predetermined time.

11. The surgical robot according to claim 9, wherein the increasing scaling function is selected by an operator of the surgical robot from among a plurality of pre-stored increasing scaling functions.

12. The surgical robot according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined time is changeable by an operator of the surgical robot.

13. The surgical robot according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined time varies according to the strength of the feedback signal fed back to the input unit.

14. The surgical robot according to claim 9, wherein the increasing scaling function is non-linear.

15. The surgical robot according to claim 1, wherein the controller is included in the master device or the slave device.

16. A surgical robot control method for a surgical robot including a master device and a slave device, the method comprising:

generating a control signal to control at least one robotic surgical instrument provided in the slave device;

transmitting the control signal to the slave device; and

performing a mode change process to gradually vary a strength of a feedback signal fed back from the slave device to the master device for a predetermined time when an operation mode is changed.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the operation mode includes a force feedback mode that feeds back force generated in the at least one robotic surgical instrument via interaction with an external environment to the master device, and a non-force feedback mode that does not feed back the force generated in the at least one robotic surgical instrument to the master device.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein performing the mode change process includes gradually decreasing the strength of the feedback signal fed back to the input unit for a predetermined time using a decreasing scaling function if the operation mode is changed from a force feedback mode to a non-force feedback mode.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein performing the mode change process includes gradually increasing the strength of the feedback signal fed back to the input unit for a predetermined time using an increasing scaling function if the operation mode is changed from a non-force feedback mode to a force feedback mode.

20. A robot comprising:

a slave device having at least one instrument;

a master device to remotely perform an operation using the at least one instrument via the slave device; and

a controller to determine whether a change in a feedback mode is requested, and to perform a feedback mode change process by temporarily applying a scaling function to a feedback signal fed back from the slave device to the master device, in response to the change in the feedback mode.