Compensation of gravity-related displacements of medical carrier structures

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program comprising program instructions, that when executed on at least one processor of a computer or loaded onto the at least one processor of the computer, causes the computer to perform a method of determining a compensation for gravity-related displacements of a medical carrier structure having at least one adjustable joint including a joint brake to selectively immobilize the joint which respectively connects two sections of the medical carrier structure by:

• acquiring target position data which describes a target position for a predefined section of the medical carrier structure, the target position being a position at which the predefined section is intended to be held by a positional configuration of the medical carrier structure;
• acquiring rest position data which describes a rest position into which the predefined section of the medical carrier structure is displaced by gravity, wherein the acquiring the rest position data comprises:
• positioning the predefined section of the medical carrier structure at the target position;
• applying the brake to immobilize the at least one joint;
• and
• allowing the predefined section of the medical carrier structure to deviate from the target position into the rest position due to gravity and without any actuator effects or support from an operator;
• determining deviation data based on the target position data and the rest position data, wherein the deviation data describes a spatial deviation between the target position and the rest position;
• and
• determining prepositioning data based on the deviation data, wherein the prepositioning data describes an offset position at which the predefined section of the medical carrier structure needs to be positioned, the offset position being representative of an amount and direction of deviation of the predefined section, in order for the predefined section of the medical carrier structure to be displaced by gravity into the target position at which the predefined section is intended to be held in place by the positional configuration of the medical carrier structure.

A medical system, comprising:

• at least one computer;
• at least one electronic data storage device storing at least target position data;
• and
• a medical carrier structure having at least one adjustable joint including a joint brake to selectively immobilize the joint respectively connecting two sections of the medical carrier structure,
• wherein the at least one computer is operable to:
• acquire, from the at least one electronic data storage device, the target position data, wherein the target position data describes a target position for a predefined section of the medical carrier structure having the at least one joint which respectively connects two sections of the medical carrier structure, the target position being a position at which the predefined section is intended to be held by a positional configuration of the medical carrier structure;
• acquire rest position data which describes a rest position into which the predefined section of the medical carrier structure is displaced by gravity, wherein the acquiring the rest position data comprises:
• positioning the predefined section of the medical carrier structure at the target position;
• applying the brake to immobilize the at least one joint;
• and
• allowing the predefined section of the medical carrier structure to deviate from the target position into the rest position due to gravity and without any actuator effects or support from an operator;
• determine deviation data based on the target position data and the rest position data, wherein the deviation data describes a spatial deviation between the target position and the rest position;
• determine prepositioning data based on the deviation data, wherein the prepositioning data describes an offset position at which the predefined section of the medical carrier structure needs to be positioned, the offset position being representative of an amount and direction of deviation of the predefined section, in order for the predefined section of the medical carrier structure to be displaced by gravity into the target position at which the predefined section is intended to be held in place by the positional configuration of the medical carrier structure;
• and
• issue a control signal to the medical carrier structure for controlling operation of the medical carrier structure based on the target position data.