Techniques for detecting errors or loss of accuracy in a surgical robotic system

A method of operating a robotic surgical system comprising a surgical tool, a manipulator comprising a base supporting a plurality of links and being configured to support the surgical tool, a navigation system comprising a tracker coupled to the surgical tool and a localizer being configured to monitor a state of the tracker, and a controller coupled to the manipulator and the navigation system and with the method comprising the controller performing the steps of:

• acquiring, from the manipulator, raw kinematic measurement data relating to a state of the surgical tool relative to the base;
• acquiring known relationship data relating to the state of the tracker relative to the surgical tool;
• acquiring, from the navigation system, raw navigation data relating to the state of the tracker relative to the localizer;
• combining the raw kinematic measurement data, the known relationship data and the raw navigation data to determine a raw relationship between the base and the localizer;
• filtering the raw relationship according to a first filter length to produce a first filtered relationship between the base and the localizer for controlling the manipulator;
• filtering the raw relationship according to a second filter length being shorter than the first filter length to produce a second filtered relationship between the base and the localizer;
• and
• utilizing the second filtered relationship to determine whether an error has occurred relating to at least one of the manipulator and the localizer.

A method of operating a robotic surgical system comprising a surgical tool, a manipulator comprising a base supporting a plurality of links and being configured to support the surgical tool, a navigation system comprising a tracker coupled to the manipulator and a localizer being configured to monitor a state of the tracker, and a controller coupled to the manipulator and the navigation system and with the method comprising the controller performing the steps of:

• determining a raw relationship between one or more components of the manipulator and one or more components of the navigation system using one or more of raw kinematic measurement data from the manipulator and raw navigation data from the navigation system;
• filtering the raw relationship to produce a filtered relationship between the one or more components of the manipulator and the one or more components of the navigation system for controlling the manipulator;
• and
• utilizing the raw relationship to determine whether an error has occurred relating to at least one of the manipulator and the navigation system.