Robotic spine surgery system and methods with haptic interface

A method of controlling a robotic surgical system, the robotic surgical system including a robotic manipulator, a surgical tool coupled to the robotic manipulator and configured to interface with a screw and to rotate the screw about a rotational axis, a hand-held pendant remotely spaced apart from the robotic manipulator and the surgical tool and including an actuator and a rotational interface coupled to the actuator and configured to be manually manipulatable by a hand of an operator, a navigation system configured to track a position of a target site, a memory including computer-readable instructions, and one or more controllers coupled to the memory, the robotic manipulator, the hand-held pendant, and the navigation system, the method comprising:

• controlling, with the one or more controllers, movement of the robotic manipulator to maintain the rotational axis of the surgical tool along a planned trajectory with respect to the target site based on the tracked position of the target site;
• implementing, with the one or more controllers, the computer-readable instructions to obtain a known thread geometry of the screw;
• autonomously controlling, with the one or more controllers, the surgical tool to rotate the screw at a rotational rate about the rotational axis and to linearly advance the screw at an advancement rate along the planned trajectory, wherein the rotational rate and the advancement rate are predetermined and proportional to the known thread geometry of the screw;
• obtaining, with the one or more controllers, a measurement indicative of a present interaction between the screw and the target site;
• and
• controlling, with the one or more controllers and based on the obtained measurement, the actuator of the hand-held pendant to enable the rotational interface to emulate the present interaction between the screw and the target site.