Simultaneous white light and hyperspectral light imaging systems

A surgical system comprising:

• a robotic arm to which an endoscope is mounted, the endoscope comprising:
• an illumination path configured to direct light from an illuminator, the illuminator comprising a white light illumination source and a hyperspectral illumination source;
• and
• a camera comprising a first image capture sensor and a second image capture sensor, the first image capture sensor being configured to capture a visible color image and the second image capture sensor being configured to capture a hyperspectral image, the first and second image capture sensors capturing the visible color image and the hyperspectral image substantially simultaneously;
• and
• a controller coupled to the illuminator and coupled to the camera, the controller being configured to command the robotic arm to move the camera to each of a plurality of locations, and the controller being configured to command the camera to simultaneously capture at each of the plurality of locations a visible color image and a hyperspectral image.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory storing instructions configured to be executed by the processor to perform a process comprising:
• receiving a visible image captured by an image capture unit of a surgical system;
• receiving a plurality of hyperspectral images captured at a same waveband by the image capture unit of the surgical system;
• generating a composite hyperspectral image from the plurality of hyperspectral images;
• and
• spatially registering the composite hyperspectral image with the visible image.