Systems and methods for visual sensing of and docking with a trocar

A method for docking a robotic arm of a surgical robotic system to a trocar, the method comprising:

• producing, by one or more sensors that are coupled to a docking interface of a tool drive that is coupled to the robotic arm, an image of a surface feature that is on the trocar;
• determining, by one or more processors, a sensed pose of the trocar based on the image of the surface feature, the sensed pose including a position and an orientation of the trocar;
• calculating, by the one or more processors, a planned trajectory to the sensed pose of the trocar;
• and
• driving, by the one or more processors, a plurality of actuators in the robotic arm to guide the docking interface of the robotic arm along the planned trajectory to the sensed pose of the trocar, wherein the processor determines a component of a manual force applied by an operator on the robotic arm, wherein the component of the manual force is in a direction of the planned trajectory, and controls the plurality of actuators to guide the robotic arm along the planned trajectory with a force determined by a product of i) the component of the manual force and ii) a predetermined scalar value.

A method for docking a robotic arm of a surgical robotic system to a trocar, the method comprising:

• producing, by one or more sensors that are coupled to a docking interface of a tool drive that is coupled to the robotic arm, an image of a surface feature that is on the trocar;
• determining, by one or more processors, a sensed pose of the trocar based on the image of the surface feature, the sensed pose including a position and an orientation of the trocar;
• calculating, by the one or more processors, a planned trajectory to the sensed pose of the trocar;
• driving, by the one or more processors, a plurality of actuators in the robotic arm to guide the docking interface of the robotic arm along the planned trajectory to the sensed pose of the trocar;
• determining a component of a manual force applied by an operator on the robotic arm, wherein the component of the manual force is in a direction away from the planned trajectory;
• and
• controlling the plurality of actuators to guide the robotic arm toward the planned trajectory with a force determined by a product of i) the component of the manual force and ii) a predetermined scalar value.