Virtual reality surgical device

Inventors

Sachs, AdamKHALIFA, SammyGreene, Barry Stuart

Assignees

Vicarious Surgical Inc

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Publication Number

US-11540888-B2

Patent

Publication Date

2023-01-03

Expiration Date


Abstract

A system for use in surgery includes a central body, a visualization system operably connected to the central body, a video rendering system, a head-mounted display for displaying images from the video rendering system, a sensor system, and a robotic device operably connected to the central body. The visualization system includes at least one camera and a pan system and/or a tilt system. The sensor system tracks the position and/or orientation in space of the head-mounted display relative to a reference point. The pan system and/or the tilt system are configured to adjust the field of view of the camera in response to information from the sensor system about changes in at least one of position and orientation in space of the head-mounted display relative to the reference point.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a virtual-reality surgical system for operating a surgical robot in a body cavity, using a camera assembly and a robot arm assembly. The camera assembly includes a plurality of cameras disposed within a camera body and is inserted into the body cavity through an incision, with a field of view of the camera assembly perpendicular to a direction of insertion during insertion.

After insertion, the camera assembly is actuated into an in-use configuration in which a direction of an inter-camera separation between two or more of the plurality of cameras is oriented parallel to and offset from the direction of insertion. The camera assembly is then rotated about two or more degrees of freedom including tilting about a tilt axis and panning about a pan axis, independent of any change in orientation of the robot arm assembly.

The tilt axis is parallel to the direction of the inter-camera separation and extends through a length of the camera body, and the pan axis is perpendicular to the direction of the inter-camera separation and extends through the camera body. A size of the inter-camera separation between two of the plurality of cameras exceeds a size of the incision.

Claims Coverage

Independent claims are explicitly provided for one method of operating a surgical robot. The inventive features focus on insertion and camera field-of-view orientation during insertion, actuation into an in-use configuration with defined inter-camera separation orientation relative to insertion, independent panning and tilting about specific axes relative to inter-camera separation, and a geometric condition that the inter-camera separation size exceeds the incision size.

Insertion configuration with perpendicular camera field of view

A method comprising inserting the surgical robot including the camera assembly and the robot arm assembly in an insertion configuration through an incision into the body cavity of the patient with a field of view of the camera assembly being perpendicular to a direction of insertion into the body cavity of the patient during insertion of the camera assembly.

In-use configuration with inter-camera separation oriented relative to insertion

A method comprising actuating the camera assembly into an in-use configuration in which a direction of an inter-camera separation between two or more of the plurality of cameras is oriented parallel to and is offset from the direction of insertion.

Independent camera panning and tilting about axes defined by inter-camera separation

A method comprising rotating the camera assembly about two or more degrees of freedom from the in-use configuration including tilting the camera assembly about a tilt axis and panning the camera assembly about a pan axis independent of any change in orientation of the robot arm assembly, with the tilt axis parallel to the direction of the inter-camera separation and extending through a length of the camera body, and wherein the pan axis is perpendicular to the direction of the inter-camera separation and extends through the camera body.

Inter-camera separation size exceeds incision size

A method wherein a size of the inter-camera separation between the two of the plurality of cameras exceeds a size of the incision.

The claim coverage centers on operating a surgical robot with a multi-camera assembly inserted through an incision, then actuated and rotated into an in-use configuration where camera orientation is controlled independently from robot-arm orientation using defined pan and tilt axes tied to inter-camera separation, and where the inter-camera separation exceeds the incision size.

Stated Advantages

Not explicitly described in patent.

Documented Applications

Not explicitly described in patent.

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