Software Configurable Manipulator Degrees of Freedom

• US 20140276951A1
• Filed: 03/18/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Hourtash, Arjang, Diolaiti, Nicola, Hingwe, Pushkar, Swarup, Nitish, Smaby, Niels
• Granted Patent: US 10,561,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2059 Mechanical position encoders
• 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

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and systems for controlling a plurality of manipulator assemblies of a robotic system. In accordance with a method, a first plurality of sensor signals are received at a plurality of joint space interface elements from a plurality of connector input elements via a first mapping between the joint space interface elements and joints of the first manipulator assembly. The connector input elements are operable to couple to only one manipulator assembly at a time. The received first sensor signals are then processed with a joint controller so as to control the first manipulator assembly. A second plurality of sensor signals are then received from the connector input elements at the joint space interface elements via a second mapping different than the first mapping. The received second sensor signals are then processed with the joint controller so as to control a second manipulator assembly different than the first manipulator assembly.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a plurality of manipulator assemblies of a robotic system, the method comprising:

receiving a first plurality of sensor signals at a plurality of joint space interface elements, the first sensor signals indicating joint states of a first manipulator assembly, the first sensor signals being received from a plurality of connector input elements via a first mapping between the joint space interface elements and joints of the first manipulator assembly, the connector input elements being operable to couple to only one manipulator assembly at a time;

processing the received first sensor signals with a joint controller so as to control the first manipulator assembly;

receiving a second plurality of sensor signals indicating joint states of the second manipulator assembly, the second sensor signals being received from the connector input elements via a second mapping between the joint space interface elements and joints of the second manipulator assembly different than the first mapping; and

processing the received second sensor signals with the joint controller so as to control the second manipulator assembly.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first manipulator assembly and the second manipulator assembly include the same manipulator but different tools.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the joints of the first manipulator is different than one of the joints of the second manipulator assembly.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the joint space interface elements have a predefined correspondence with the degrees of freedom of a manipulator assembly.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting the processed first sensor signals to one or more actuators of the first manipulator assembly; and

outputting the processed second sensor signals to one or more actuators of the second manipulator assembly.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising

processing at least one additional signal in addition to the received first sensor signals to control the first manipulator assembly, the at least one additional signal corresponding to at least one simulated joint of the first manipulator assembly.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the received first sensor signals includes executing an algorithm that uses one or more signals received at the joint space interface elements, the signals used being selected based on input data received for the algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the received first sensor signals includes executing an algorithm that uses one or more signals received at the joint space interface elements, the signals used being selected based on a predetermined correspondence between the joint space interface elements and degrees of freedom of a manipulator assembly.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a first joint groupings definition is associated with the first manipulator assembly and defines a plurality of groupings of the joint space interface elements unique to the first manipulator assembly, and a second joint groupings definition is associated with the second manipulator assembly and defines a plurality of groupings of the joint space interface elements unique to the second manipulator assembly.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the joint controller executing a first algorithm simultaneously with executing a second algorithm, wherein the first algorithm uses signals from a first one of the groupings unique to the first manipulator assembly as inputs to the first algorithm and the second algorithm uses signals from a second one of the groupings unique to the first manipulator assembly as inputs to the second algorithm.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the joint controller executing a third algorithm simultaneously with executing a fourth algorithm, wherein the third algorithm uses signals from a first one of the groupings unique to the second manipulator assembly as inputs to the third algorithm and the fourth algorithm uses signals from a second one of the groupings unique to the second manipulator assembly as inputs to the fourth algorithm.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising

receiving joint space output signals at a plurality of work space interface elements, the joint space output signals being received from the joint space interface elements, the joint space output signals corresponding to at least one degree of freedom of a manipulator assembly, the joint space output signals being received via a mapping between the work space interface elements and the joint space interface elements;

processing the received joint space output signals with a work space controller so as to generate work space output signals operable to control the manipulator assembly; and

communicating the work space output signals to the joint space interface elements.

13. A method for controlling a plurality of manipulator assemblies of a robotic system, the method comprising:

receiving first joint space output signals at a plurality of work space interface elements, the first joint space output signals being received from a plurality of joint space interface elements, the first joint space output signals corresponding to at least one degree of freedom of a first manipulator assembly, the first joint space output signals being received via a first mapping between the work space interface elements and the joint space interface elements;

processing the received first joint space output signals with a work space controller so as to control the first manipulator assembly;

receiving second joint space output signals at the work space interface elements, the second joint space output signals being received from the joint space interface elements, the second joint space output signals corresponding to at least one degree of freedom of a second manipulator assembly different than the first manipulator assembly, the second joint space output signals being received via a second mapping between the work space interface elements and the joint space interface elements different than the first mapping; and

processing the received second joint space output signals with the work space controller so as to control the second manipulator assembly.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the work space interface elements is not mapped to any of the joint space interface elements.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving first joint space output signals includes receiving, at a plurality of work space interface elements, a joint space output signal provided by a single joint space interface element.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of work space interface elements are operable to control a plurality of links of a manipulator assembly wherein movement of one of the links is independently controlled by the joint space output signal and movement of the other links is dependent on the independently controlled link.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving first joint space output signals includes receiving a joint space output signal provided by a joint space interface element that corresponds to a simulated degree of freedom of the first manipulator assembly.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the joint space interface element that corresponds to the simulated degree of freedom does not communicate any control signals to the first manipulator assembly such that the first manipulator assembly is controlled based on control signals communicated from joint space interface elements other than the one that corresponds to the simulated degree of freedom.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

outputting the processed first joint space output signals to the joint space interface elements; and

outputting the processed second joint space output signals to the joint space interface elements.

20. A telesurgical system for performing surgery on a patient, the system comprising:

a support structure for receiving, at a connector of the support structure, a plurality of different manipulators each having a plurality of degrees of freedom; and

a controller coupled to the support structure, the controller including a plurality of maps, each map configured to map signals from one of the manipulators to at least one of a joint space layer and a work space layer, wherein the maps are different from one another.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein each manipulator assembly includes a manipulator arm and an instrument mechanically coupled to the manipulator arm.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein each of the manipulator arm and the instrument include at least one of the degrees of freedom of the manipulator assembly.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein each manipulator includes a plurality of sensors and a plurality of motors for controlling the degrees of freedom of the manipulator, and the map corresponding to the manipulator maps signals between the sensors and the joint space layer and between the motors and the joint space layer.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein mapping signals from each manipulator to at least one of a joint space layer and a work space layer includes mapping signals between the joint space layer and the work space layer.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein each map includes a mapping between input elements of the connector and joint space interface elements.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein each map includes a mapping between the input elements of the connector and a subset of the joint space interface elements.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the mapping between the input elements of the connector and the subset of the joint space interface elements is different for different manipulator assemblies.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the size of the subset is different for different manipulator assemblies.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein each map includes a mapping between joint space interface elements and work space interface elements.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein one joint space interface element is mapped to a plurality of work space interface elements.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the work space interface elements correspond to a number of components of one of the manipulators, the components forming a parallel mechanism.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of the joint space interface elements corresponds to a simulated joint in a manipulator and is mapped to a work space interface element.

33. A telesurgical system for performing surgery on a patient, the system comprising:

a controller for controlling the state of a plurality of surgical tools;

a plurality of manipulators coupled to the controller, each manipulator including a mechanical interface and an electrical interface, the mechanical interface operable to mechanically couple the manipulator to a surgical tool, the electrical interface operable to communicate information between the controller and the surgical tool connected to the manipulator, wherein each manipulator is operable to couple to a plurality of different surgical tools via the mechanical interface, and the electrical interfaces are different for each surgical tool.

34. The telesurgical system of claim 33, wherein the electrical interface of each surgical tool includes a plurality of electrical contacts, each contact operable to communicate information to a degree of freedom of the surgical tool.

35. The telesurgical system of claim 34, wherein the same contact in different surgical tools is operable to communicate information to a different degree of freedom in each surgical tool.

36. The telesurgical system of claim 33, wherein the electrical interface of each manipulator includes a plurality of electrical contacts, each contact being associated with a degree of freedom of the manipulator.

37. The telesurgical system of claim 36, wherein each contact is associated with the same degree of freedom for all of the plurality of surgical tools.

38. The telesurgical system of claim 33, wherein the mechanical interface is the same for the plurality of surgical tools.