A method to control a robot to perform at least one Cartesian or joint space task comprises using quadratic programming to determine joint forces, in particular joint torques, and/or joint accelerations of said robot based on at least one cost function which depends on said task.

A robot may include: a multi-tool module having redundancy, the multi-tool module including a guide tube and a plurality of tools configured to operate while interacting with the guide tube and extended from the guide tube; and/or a controller configured to generate a control signal regarding motion of the multi-tool module in a joint space based on motion instruction information regarding distal ends of the plurality of tools in a task space. The redundancy may reflect that a number of degrees of freedom of the multi-tool module in the joint space is greater than a number of degrees of freedom of the task space. The control signal may be generated using the redundancy.

The present teaching relates to a method and system for path planning. A target is tracked via one or more sensors. Information of a desired pose of an end-effector with respect to the target and a current pose of the end-effector is obtained. Also, a minimum distance permitted between an arm including the end-effector and each of at least one obstacle identified between the current pose of the end-effector and the target is obtained. A weighting factor previously learned is retrieved and a cost based on a cost function is computed in accordance with a weighted smallest distance between the arm including the end-effector and the at least one obstacle, wherein the smallest distance is weighted by the weighting factor. A trajectory is computed from the current pose to the desired pose by minimizing the cost function.

A control system and a method for controlling a surgical robotic system are provided. The surgical robotic system comprises a surgical robot arm. The surgical robot arm comprises a plurality of joints by which its configuration can be altered. An input is received which indicates a desired motion of the surgical robot arm when the surgical robotic system is operating in a mode in which the surgical robot arm is controlled in accordance with an objective. The objective is to control a particular part of the surgical robot arm to have a desired position and/or orientation. The control system determines that the desired motion of the surgical robot arm would cause a limit to be exceeded. In response to determining that the desired motion of the surgical robot arm would cause the limit to be exceeded, a control signal is generated for controlling the surgical robot arm, and the generated control signal is sent to the surgical robot arm in order to control the surgical robot arm. The control signal is generated, in response to determining that the desired motion of the surgical robot arm would cause the limit to be exceeded, such that: (i) movement of a first set of one or more of the joints of the surgical robot arm is restricted, and (ii) movement of a second set of one or more of the joints of the surgical robot arm is not restricted.