Robotic Spine Surgery System And Methods With Haptic Interface

A robotic surgical system comprising:

• 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 haptic device comprising an actuator and a rotational interface coupled to the actuator and the rotational interface being configured to be manually rotated by a hand of an operator;
• a non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising instructions;
• and
• one or more controllers coupled to the robotic manipulator, the haptic device, and the non-transitory computer-readable memory, and the one or more controllers comprising one or more processors that are configured to execute the instructions to:
• receive a control input based on manual rotation of the rotational interface, an extent of the manual rotation specifying a corresponding extent to which the screw is driven into a target site;
• operate the robotic manipulator and surgical tool to drive the screw into the target site based on the control input;
• obtain information indicative of a present interaction between the screw and the target site;
• and
• based on the obtained information, adjust a force/torque required to manually rotate the rotational interface, wherein the force/torque required to manually rotate the rotational interface provides the operator with haptic feedback to emulate the present interaction between the screw and the target site.

A method of operating 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 haptic device comprising an actuator and a rotational interface coupled to the actuator and the rotational interface being configured to be manually rotated by a hand of an operator, a non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising instructions, and one or more controllers coupled to the robotic manipulator, the haptic device, and the non-transitory computer-readable memory, and the one or more controllers comprising one or more processors to execute the instructions, the method comprising the one or more controllers performing the following steps:

• receiving a control input from the haptic device in response to manual rotation of the rotational interface by the hand of the operator, wherein the control input is utilized for controlling one or both of a rotational rate of the screw about the rotational axis or an advancement rate of the screw;
• in response to receiving the control input, operating the surgical tool for rotating the screw at the rotational rate and operating the robotic manipulator for linearly advancing the screw at the advancement rate into a target site;
• obtaining information indicative of a present interaction between the screw and the target site;
• and
• based on the obtained information, adjusting a force/torque required to manually rotate the rotational interface, wherein the force/torque required to manually rotate the rotational interface provides the operator with haptic feedback to emulate the present interaction between the screw and the target site.