Medical robotic system with operatively couplable simulator unit for surgeon training

• US 8,600,551 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2010
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Itkowitz, Brandon D., Blumenkranz, Stephen J., Miller, Brian E., Moll, Frederic H., Ramans, Andris D., Rosa, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jen, Ian
• Application Number:
  US12/755,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20100234857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 700/245, 700/246, 700/250, 700/254, 700/257, 700/258, 700/259, 700/260, 700/261, 700/262, 700/264, 600/102, 600/407, 600/424, 600/427, 711/114, 711/170, 711/202, 718/1, 718/104
• US Class Current: 700/245
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00477 Coupling A61B2017/0046 takes precedence
• 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 2090/506 using a parallelogram linkage, e.g. panthograph
• 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 34/77 Manipulators with motion or force scaling
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/361 Image-producing devices, e.g. surgical cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/285 for injections, endoscopy, bronchoscopy, sigmoidscopy, insertion of contraceptive devices or enemas

Abstract

A medical robotic system has a surgeon console which is operatively couplable to a patient side unit for performing medical procedures or operatively couplable to a simulator unit for training purposes. The surgeon console has a monitor, input devices and foot pedals. The patient side unit has robotic arm assemblies coupled to instruments and an endoscope. When the surgeon console is coupled to the patient side unit, the instruments move in response to movement of the input devices to perform a medical procedure while captured images of the instruments are displayed on the monitor. When the surgeon console is coupled to the simulator unit, virtual instruments move in response to movement of the input devices to perform a user selected virtual procedure while virtual images of the virtual instruments are displayed on the monitor.

Claims

1. A robotic system comprising:

a control console including an input device and a monitor;

an instrument manipulator operatively couplable to the control console for moving an instrument seen in a work environment on the monitor in response to movement of the input device for performing a work task in the work environment; and

a simulator unit operatively couplable to the control console for moving a virtual instrument seen in a virtual environment on the monitor in response to movement of the input device for performing a simulated procedure in the virtual environment for training purposes.

2. The robotic system according to claim 1, further comprising means for selectively coupling the instrument manipulator and the simulator unit to the control console.

3. The robotic system according to claim 1, further comprising a vision unit including an image capturing device disposed so as to capture images of the work environment and send the captured images to the control console for display on the monitor when the instrument manipulator is operatively coupled to the control console.

4. The robotic system according to claim 1, wherein the simulator unit sends computer generated virtual images to the control console for display on the monitor when the simulator unit is operatively coupled to the control console.

5. The robotic system according to claim 4, wherein the control console further includes a second input device, the virtual images are generated from a perspective of a virtual camera viewing the virtual environment, and the perspective of the virtual camera is movable in response to movement of the input device after employing the second input device to disassociate the input device with the virtual instrument and associate the input device instead with the virtual camera.

6. The robotic system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual instrument has a virtual state relative to the virtual environment and the virtual state is updated in response to the movement of the input device.

7. The robotic system according to claim 6, wherein the virtual state is updated by simulating movement of the instrument in response to movement of the input device.

8. The robotic system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual environment includes a virtual work site upon which a virtual procedure is to be performed using the virtual instrument.

9. The robotic system according to claim 8, further comprising a selection means for operator selection of the virtual procedure among a plurality of virtual procedures.

10. The robotic system according to claim 8, further comprising performance evaluating means for determining parameter values measuring performance of the virtual procedure by an operator of the input device.

11. The robotic system according to 10, further comprising display means for displaying the parameter values to the operator of the input device.

12. A medical robotic system comprising:

a surgeon console having a monitor for displaying three-dimensional images, a left input device manipulatable by a left hand of an operator, and a right input device manipulatable by a right hand of the operator;

a patient side unit having first and second robotically manipulatable instruments, the patient side unit operatively couplable to the surgeon console for moving the first robotically manipulatable instrument in response to movement of the left input device and moving the second robotically manipulatable instrument in response to movement of the right input device; and

a simulator unit operatively couplable to the surgeon console for moving a first virtual instrument seen in a virtual environment on the monitor in response to movement of the left input device and moving a second virtual instrument seen in the virtual environment on the monitor in response to movement of the right input device for performing a simulated procedure in the virtual environment for training purposes.

13. The medical robotic system according to claim 12, further comprising means for selectively coupling the patient side unit and the simulator unit to the surgeon console.

14. The medical robotic system according to claim 12, wherein the patient side unit further has an image capturing device for capturing images of distal ends of the first and second instruments, and the system further comprises a vision unit coupled to the image capturing device so as to send the captured images to the surgeon console for display on the monitor when the patient side unit is operatively coupled to the surgeon console.

15. The medical robotic system according to claim 12, wherein the simulator unit sends computer generated virtual images to the surgeon console for display on the monitor when the simulator unit is operatively coupled to the surgeon console.

16. The medical robotic system according to claim 15, wherein the surgeon console further has a foot pedal, the virtual images are generated from a perspective of a virtual camera viewing the virtual environment, and the perspective of the virtual camera is movable in response to movement of at least one of the left and right input devices after employing the foot pedal to disassociate the at least one of the left and right input devices from the respective first and second virtual instruments and associate the at least one of the left and right input devices instead to the virtual camera.

17. The medical robotic system according to claim 12, wherein the first and second virtual instruments respectively have first and second virtual states relative to the virtual environment, the first virtual state is updated in response to the movement of the left input device, and the second virtual state is updated in response to the movement of the right input device.

18. The medical robotic system according to claim 17, wherein the first and second virtual states are updated by simulating movements of the first and second instruments in response to movements of the left and right input devices.

19. The medical robotic system according to claim 12, wherein the virtual environment includes a virtual work site upon which a virtual procedure is to be performed using the first and second virtual instruments.

20. The medical robotic system according to claim 19, further comprising a selection means for operator selection of the virtual procedure among a plurality of virtual procedures.

21. The medical robotic system according to claim 20, further comprising performance evaluating means for determining parameter values measuring performance of the virtual procedure by the operator of the left and right input devices.

22. The medical robotic system according to 21, further comprising display means for displaying the parameter values to the operator of the left and right input devices.

23. The medical robotic system according to claim 12, wherein the surgeon console further has means for performing a clutching operation in which either one of the left and right input devices is repositionable without moving the respective first or second robotically manipulatable instrument when the patient side unit is operatively coupled to the surgeon console and without moving the respective first or second virtual instrument when the simulator unit is operatively coupled to the surgeon console.