A method for controlling a surgical tool includes associating a joint of a patient with a representation of the joint, collecting data indicating at least one of a position and an orientation of a first bone and a second bone of the joint as the joint is moved through a range of motion, and creating a surgical plan based at least in part on the data collected. The method further includes establishing a virtual cutting boundary on the representation of the joint based on the surgical plan, superimposing a representation of the surgical tool on the representation of the joint, wherein the surgical tool is to be operated by a user to execute the surgical plan during a surgical procedure, and controlling the surgical tool to prevent the surgical tool from cutting a portion of the joint outside a boundary that corresponds to the virtual cutting boundary.

Teleoperation systems and methods for use during a surgical procedure. The teleoperation system comprises a surgical tool and a master input device for being moved by a user. A slave device is coupled to the surgical tool and responsive to movement of the master input device. The slave device is configured to be operated in a first mode or a second mode. In the first mode, the surgical tool is placed in a desired pose with respect to a target region in response to a manual force applied to the slave device. In the second mode, the surgical tool is manipulated during the surgical procedure in response to movement of the master input device by the user. A visual indicator is coupled to the surgical tool or the slave device to emit light in the second mode to provide visual information to the user in the second mode.

A surgical apparatus includes a surgical device, configured to be manipulated by a user to perform a procedure on a patient, and a computer system. The computer system is programmed to implement control parameters for controlling the surgical device to provide at least one of haptic guidance to the user and a limit on user manipulation of the surgical device, based on a relationship between an anatomy of the patient and at least one of a position, an orientation, a velocity, and an acceleration of a portion of the surgical device, and to adjust the control parameters in response to movement of the anatomy during the procedure.

System and method for performing a surgical procedure using a drill guide and a robotic device operable in multiple modes. The drill guide is mechanically coupled to the robotic device. A pre-defined virtual trajectory constrains movement of the drill guide. In a first mode, a user is able to manually manipulate the drill guide while movement of the drill guide is constrained by the pre-defined virtual trajectory. In a second mode, the robotic device operates autonomously, for instance, to perform service on the robotic device.

A robot system comprises a robot provided with a robot arm and a robot hand, and a control device for controlling the motion of the robot, wherein a permitted area where a teaching operation for the robot hand should be permitted is preset within a maximum area which the robot hand can reach. The control device is provided with a judging part which judges if the robot hand as a whole is present in the permitted area, based on robot hand position information, and a teaching operation restricting part which permits a teaching operation for the robot hand when it is judged that the robot hand as a whole is present in the permitted area and prohibits a teaching operation for the robot hand when it is judged that the robot hand as a whole is not present in the permitted area.

The invention relates to a method of setting a plurality of part regions of a desired protected zone, in which

a) the positions of a plurality of monitoring units are detected, with each monitoring unit detecting a detection zone;
b) a maximum size of each detection zone is determined;
c) the desired protected zone is fixed in a graphical user interface;
d) the part regions to be monitored by the respective monitoring units are fixed with reference to the positions of the monitoring units, to the maximum size of the detection zones and of the desired protected zone; and
e) the part regions are assigned to the respective monitoring units.

Spatial regions potentially occupied by a robot (or other machinery) or portion thereof and a human operator during performance of all or a defined portion of a task or an application are computationally estimated. These potential occupancy envelopes (POEs) may be based on the states (e.g., the current and expected positions, velocities, accelerations, geometry and/or kinematics) of the robot and the human operator. Once the POEs of human operators in the workspace are established, they can be used to guide or revise motion planning for task execution.