Robotic surgical system, patient-side apparatus, and control method of robotic surgical system

Inventors

MIZOHATA, Yuichi • Shimomura, Nobuyasu • KOBAYASHI, Ayataka

Assignees

Kawasaki Motors Ltd

Abstract

A robotic surgical system includes a controller configured or programmed to change a length between a first axis and a second axis in a direction in which a shaft extends, the length serving as a control parameter, according to a rotation speed of the shaft with respect to an amount of operation to control operation of a surgical instrument.

Core Innovation

A robotic surgical system is provided with a patient-side apparatus including a manipulator arm to which a surgical instrument is attached to a tip end side of the manipulator arm. An operator-side apparatus includes an operation unit that receives an operation on the surgical instrument, and a controller controls operation of the surgical instrument based on an amount of operation corresponding to the operation.

The surgical instrument includes an end effector, a first support, a second support, and a shaft connected to the second support. The first support supports the end effector such that the end effector is rotatable about a first axis orthogonal to a direction in which the shaft extends, and the second support supports the first support such that the first support is rotatable about a second axis spaced apart from the first axis in the direction in which the shaft extends and orthogonal to the direction in which the shaft extends and the first axis.

The controller changes a length between the first axis and the second axis in the direction in which the shaft extends, and the length serves as a control parameter. The controller changes the length according to a rotation speed of the shaft with respect to the amount of operation to control the operation of the surgical instrument, including decreasing the control parameter as shaft rotation speed increases and holding the control parameter constant in a constant control parameter region.

The described behavior further includes applying the vibration reduction to a bent surgical instrument such that a first support rotates about a second axis and intersects the direction in which the shaft extends, and optionally using a low-pass filter on a command value of rotation speed to generate a filtered rotation-speed command value before applying the rotation-speed-dependent decrease.

Claims Coverage

The document includes three independent claim groups: a robotic surgical system with a controller-based rotation-speed-dependent control parameter, a patient-side apparatus configured with the same controller functionality, and a control method executed by a controller. Across these, there are three main inventive features that are repeatedly specified: a shaft-supported end effector with first and second axes defining a controllable length parameter, a control relationship using shaft rotation speed with respect to an amount of operation, and rotation-speed-dependent change rules for the control parameter including thresholded constant-region behavior and optional low-pass filtering and bent-instrument conditions.

The claim coverage centers on controlling operation of a surgical instrument by changing a length between first and second axes of a first and second support arrangement connected via a shaft, using a rotation-speed relationship with respect to an amount of operation. Dependent claim refinements specify how the length changes with rotation speed, including gradual or linear decrease, piecewise threshold behavior with a constant region, optional low-pass filtering of a rotation-speed command value, and an additional decrease condition when the instrument is bent with a support-axis intersection relationship.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications