Restoring instrument control input position/orientation during midprocedure restart

A method comprising:

• recording to non-volatile memory a position of a drive mechanism for a robotic assembly, the robotic assembly including an instrument and a motor operable to drive the drive mechanism;
• receiving a request to initiate a mid-procedure restart of the robotic assembly after a mid-procedure shut-down of the robotic assembly;
• determining whether a post-shutdown position of the drive mechanism is within an accepted tolerance with respect to a pre-shutdown position of the drive mechanism;
• and
• preventing further use of the robotic assembly in response to a determination that the post-shutdown position of the drive mechanism is not within the accepted tolerance with respect to the pre-shutdown position of the drive mechanism.

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory machine readable medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processor to:
• record to non-volatile memory a position of a drive mechanism for a robotic assembly, the robotic assembly including an instrument and a motor operable to drive the drive mechanism;
• receive a request to initiate a mid-procedure restart of the robotic assembly after a mid-procedure shut-down of the robotic assembly;
• determine whether a post-shutdown position of the drive mechanism is within an accepted tolerance with respect to a pre-shutdown position of the drive mechanism;
• and
• prevent further use of the robotic assembly in response to a determination that the post-shutdown position of the drive mechanism is not within the accepted tolerance with respect to the pre-shutdown position of the drive mechanism.