Neural monitor-based dynamic haptics
AssigneeMAKO Surgical Corp.
InventorsChris Alan Lightcap, Hyosig Kang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A computer-assisted surgery system may have a robotic arm including a surgical tool and a processor communicatively connected to the robotic arm. The processor may be configured to receive, from a neural monitor, a signal indicative of a distance between the surgical tool and a portion of a patient's anatomy including nervous tissue. The processor may be further configured to generate a command for altering a degree to which the robotic arm resists movement based on the signal received from the neural monitor; and send the command to the robotic arm.
Claims21
A computer-implemented method for controlling a surgical system, the method comprising:
- receiving, from a neural monitor, a signal indicative of a distance between a surgical tool connected to a robotic arm and a portion of a patient's anatomy including nervous tissue;
- and
- generating a command for altering a degree to which the robotic arm resists movement based on the signal received from the neural monitor, wherein generating the command comprises:
- generating a first force value based on virtual haptic geometry associated with the patient's anatomy;
- subtracting an applied force being applied to the robotic arm from the first force value to calculate a force error;
- determining a neural monitor gain based on the signal received from the neural monitor;
- generating a second force value proportional to the force error and the neural monitor gain;
- and
- generating the command based on a combination of the first force value and the second force value.
A computer-assisted surgery system comprising:
- a robotic arm including a surgical tool;
- and
- a processor communicatively connected to the robotic arm and configured to:
- receive, from a neural monitor, a signal indicative of a distance between the surgical tool and a portion of a patient's anatomy including nervous tissue;
- and
- generate a command for altering a degree to which the robotic arm resists movement based on the signal received from the neural monitor, wherein generating the command comprises:
- generating a first force value based on virtual haptic geometry associated with the patient's anatomy;
- subtracting an applied force being applied to the robotic arm from the first force value to calculate a force error;
- determining a neural monitor gain based on the signal received from the neural monitor;
- generating a second force value proportional to the force error and the neural monitor gain;
- and
- generating the command based on a combination of the first force value and the second force value;
- and
- send the command to the robotic arm.
A computer-implemented method for controlling a surgical system, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a processor associated with a computer, a signal from a neural monitor indicative of a distance between a surgical tool connected to a robotic arm and a portion of a patient's anatomy including nervous tissue;
- and
- determining, by the processor, a haptic feedback command based on the signal received from the neural monitor, wherein determining a haptic feedback command comprises:
- determining a first force value based on virtual haptic geometry associated with the patient's anatomy;
- subtracting an applied force being applied to the robotic arm from the first force value to calculate a force error;
- determining a neural monitor gain based on the signal received from the neural monitor;
- determining a second force value proportional to the force error and the neural monitor gain;
- and
- determining the haptic feedback command based on a combination of the first force value and the second force value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.