Systems and methods for commanded reconfiguration of a surgical manipulator using the null-space

A robotic method implemented with a manipulator arm including a support for an instrument, a movable distal portion, a proximal portion coupled to a base, and a plurality of joints between the distal portion and the base, the plurality of joints having sufficient degrees of freedom to allow a range of differing joint states of the plurality of joints for a given state of the distal portion, the method comprising:

• receiving, via an input device, a reconfiguration command for a reconfiguration movement of the manipulator arm;
• calculating one or more joint velocities for a first movement of a first set of joints of the plurality of joints in accordance with the reconfiguration movement and in response to the reconfiguration command;
• calculating one or more joint velocities for a second movement of one or more joints of the plurality of joints, wherein a combination of the one or more joint velocities for the first movement and the one or more joint velocities for the second movement maintains an intermediate portion of the instrument at a pivot location, wherein the intermediate portion is between a proximal end of the instrument and an end effector of the instrument;
• and
• driving the plurality of joints according to the combination so as to maintain the intermediate portion at the pivot location during the reconfiguration movement of the manipulator arm.

A machine-readable medium storing instructions for a processor coupled with a manipulator arm,

• the manipulator arm including a support for an instrument, a movable distal portion, a proximal portion coupled to a base, and a plurality of joints between the distal portion and the base, the plurality of joints having sufficient degrees of freedom to allow a range of differing joint states of the plurality of joints for a given state of the distal portion,
• the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform operations comprising:
• receiving, via an input device, a reconfiguration command for a reconfiguration movement of the manipulator arm;
• calculating one or more joint velocities for a first movement of a first set of joints of the plurality of joints in accordance with the reconfiguration movement and in response to the reconfiguration command;
• calculating one or more joint velocities for a second movement of one or more joints of the plurality of joints, wherein a combination of the one or more joint velocities for the first movement and the one or more joint velocities for the second movement maintains an intermediate portion of the instrument at a pivot location, wherein the intermediate portion is between a proximal end of the instrument and an end effector of the instrument;
• and
• driving the plurality of joints according to the combination so as to maintain the intermediate portion at the pivot location during the reconfiguration movement of the manipulator arm.