Radiosurgery x-ray system with collision avoidance subsystem

A system, comprising:

• an x-ray source having an emission head mounted at a distal end of an arm assembly to selectively emit-an x-ray beam;
• a collision avoidance subsystem coupled to the arm assembly to prevent the emission head and arm assembly from colliding with an object in one or more predetermined exclusion zones, the collision avoidance subsystem comprising one or more optical emitter-receiver pairs comprising:
• an optical emitter including a light source for generating a substantially planar light beam between at least one predetermined exclusion zones and the x-ray source;
• and
• an optical receiver for receiving back-scattered light from an object extending through the substantially planar light beam.

A system, comprising:

• an x-ray source having an emission head mounted at a distal end of an arm assembly to selectively emit-an x-ray beam;
• and
• a collision avoidance subsystem coupled to the arm assembly to prevent the emission head and arm assembly from colliding with an object in one or more predetermined exclusion zones, wherein said collision avoidance subsystem comprises:
• an array of acoustic transducers coupled to said x-ray source, wherein each of said transducers transmits a succession of acoustic pulses along a transmission axis extending from said x-ray source, detects acoustic energy back-scattered along said transmission axis from an object disposed along said transmission axis, and determines from said received back-scattered acoustic energy a distance between said x-ray source and said object, and wherein the transmission axis of each acoustic transducer is mutually aligned whereby a cross-section of adjacent pairs of said pulses transverse to said transmission axis is contiguous at a predetermined distance from said x-ray source.

A system comprising:

• an x-ray source having an emission head mounted at a distal end of an arm assembly to selectively emit-an x-ray beam;
• a collision avoidance subsystem coupled to the arm assembly to prevent the emission head and arm assembly from colliding with an object in one or more predetermined exclusion zones, wherein said collision avoidance subsystem comprises:
• a sensor disposed on at least one of said arm assembly and said emission head, said sensor to generate an alarm signal upon impact of said sensor with an object during motion of the at least one of said arm assembly and said emission head;
• and wherein the collision avoidance subsystem interrupts motion of the at least one of said arm assembly and said emission head in response to said alarm signal.

A method comprising:

• defining one or more predetermined exclusion zones of a radiosurgery system, the radiosurgery system comprising an x-ray source having an emission head at a distal end of an articulated arm assembly;
• detecting a presence and location of an object in the one or more predetermined exclusion zones;
• and
• preventing the emission head from entering one or more predetermined exclusion zones.

A radiosurgery x-ray system, comprising:

• a robot positioning system having an arm assembly extending from a base unit;
• an x-ray source having an emission head at a distal end of the arm assembly to selectively emit-an x-ray beam;
• and
• a collision avoidance subsystem coupled to the robot positioning system, wherein the collision avoidance subsystem is configured to prevent said head from entering one or more predetermined exclusion zones.