Co-manipulation surgical system for use with surgical instruments for performing laparoscopic surgery while estimating hold force

Inventors

Linard, Nicolas • Basafa, Ehsan • Noonan, David Paul

Assignees

Moon Surgical SAS

Abstract

Co-manipulation robotic systems are described herein that may be used for assisting with laparoscopic surgical procedures. The co-manipulation robotic systems allow a surgeon to use commercially-available surgical tools while providing benefits associated with surgical robotics. Advantageously, the surgical tools may be seamlessly coupled to the robot arms using a disposable coupler while the reusable portions of the robot arm remain in a sterile drape. Further, the co-manipulation robotic system may operate in multiple modes to enhance usability and safety, while allowing the surgeon to position the instrument directly with the instrument handle and further maintain the desired position of the instrument using the robot arm.

Core Innovation

The invention is directed to assisting with laparoscopic surgery using a robot arm that has a proximal end, a distal end removably coupled to a surgical instrument, a plurality of links, and a plurality of joints. A robot arm switches automatically between multiple modes, including passive mode with a static position, co-manipulation/free-move with gravity compensation and impedance, a haptic mode using a viscous boundary, and robotic assist such as instrument centering.

A controller switches the robot arm to a passive mode in response to determining that movement of the robot arm due to movement at a handle of the surgical instrument is less than a predetermined amount for at least a predetermined dwell time period, and maintains a static position in the passive mode. In the passive mode, the controller applies gravity compensation to compensate for gravity of the surgical instrument.

During the application of the gravity compensation, the controller calculates a hold force required to maintain the distal end of the robot arm in a static position and establishes a baseline hold force based on the calculated hold force. The controller applies a breakaway force threshold to the robot arm based on the baseline hold force, where the breakaway force threshold is a predetermined amount of force required to be applied to the robot arm to cause the robot arm to exit the passive mode.

The disclosed framework is configured to support automatic switching among modes in response to handle-induced movement, including exiting the passive mode when the breakaway force threshold is exceeded, and uses off-the-shelf instruments coupled via a sterile disposable coupler to enable direct sterile co-manipulation.

Claims Coverage

The provided content includes one independent claim. It defines five inventive features centered on conditional switching into passive mode, gravity compensation, hold-force calculation and baseline establishment, and breakaway-threshold-based exit from passive mode.

Claim coverage centers on automatically entering a passive mode when handle-induced movement remains below a predetermined amount for a dwell time, maintaining static positioning with gravity compensation, computing a hold force and baseline hold force, and using a baseline-based breakaway force threshold to determine when the robot arm exits the passive mode.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications