Systems and methods for fault reaction mechanisms for medical robotic systems

A method of control in a medical robotic system, the method comprising:

• determining an operational state of the medical robotic system;
• detecting a motion actuation fault in one or more components of the medical robotic system;
• and
• based on the operational state, in response to detecting the motion actuation fault:
• automatically initiating retraction of a medical instrument relative to a lumen of a flexible elongate body;
• maintaining a shape of the flexible elongate body using one or more actuators during at least a portion of the retraction of the medical instrument;
• and
• after initiating retraction of the medical instrument relative to the lumen of the flexible elongate body, automatically relaxing the flexible elongate body using the one or more actuators.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method of control in a medical robotic system, the method comprising:

• determining an operational state of the medical robotic system;
• detecting a motion actuation fault in one or more components of the medical robotic system;
• and
• based on the operational state, in response to detecting the motion actuation fault:
• automatically initiating retraction of a medical instrument relative to a lumen of a flexible elongate body;
• maintaining a shape of the flexible elongate body using one or more actuators during at least a portion of the retraction of the medical instrument;
• and
• after initiating retraction of the medical instrument relative to the lumen of the flexible elongate body, automatically relaxing the flexible elongate body using the one or more actuators.