A numerical control device includes: a data storage unit that cyclically associates and stores command speeds and actual speeds of a motor in chronological order; a difference pattern table that associates and stores causes of a difference between the command speed and the actual speed, and difference patterns of the causes; a cause analyzing unit that analyzes the cause of the difference between the command speed and the actual speed by comparing the command speeds and the actual speeds stored in chronological order in the data storage unit, with the difference patterns stored in the difference pattern table; and a display unit that displays the analyzed cause.

Disclosed herein are apparatus and method for resisting external articulation of one or more joints of a manipulator assembly when the joints are approaching mechanical limits. For example, an articulable system may include a joint mechanism, an actuator coupled to the joint mechanism, a sensor system for sensing a joint state and a controller. The controller can operate the articulable system in an external articulation facilitation mode. The controller can command the actuator to resist movement of the joint in response to the joint state indicating the joint is moving toward a mechanical limit location with a joint velocity meeting a first velocity criterion. The controller can also command the actuator resist movement of the joint at a second joint position when the joint velocity meets a second criterion.

A numerical control device includes: a data storage unit that cyclically associates and stores command speeds and actual speeds of a motor in chronological order; a difference pattern table that associates and stores causes of a difference between the command speed and the actual speed, and difference patterns of the causes; a cause analyzing unit that analyzes the cause of the difference between the command speed and the actual speed by comparing the command speeds and the actual speeds stored in chronological order in the data storage unit, with the difference patterns stored in the difference pattern table; and a display unit that displays the analyzed cause.

Disclosed herein are apparatus and method for resisting external articulation of one or more joints of a manipulator assembly when the joints are approaching mechanical limits. For example, an articulable system may include a joint mechanism, an actuator coupled to the joint mechanism, a sensor system for sensing a joint state and a controller. The controller can operate the articulable system in an external articulation facilitation mode. The controller can command the actuator to resist movement of the joint in response to the joint state indicating the joint is moving toward a mechanical limit location with a joint velocity meeting a first velocity criterion. The controller can also command the actuator resist movement of the joint at a second joint position when the joint velocity meets a second criterion.

Systems and methods for inter-arm registration include a computer-assisted system having a control unit coupled to a repositionable arm of a computer-assisted device. The control unit is configured to: receive, from an imaging device, successive images of an instrument mounted to the repositionable arm; determine an observed velocity of a feature of the instrument; determine an expected velocity of the feature of the instrument based on kinematics of the repositionable arm; transform the observed velocity and/or the expected velocity to a common coordinate system using a registration transform; determine an error between directions of the observed and expected velocities in the common coordinate system; and update the registration transform based on the determined error. In some embodiments, the instrument is a medical instrument and the imaging device is an endoscope. In some embodiments, the control unit is further configured to control the instrument using the registration transform.

Disclosed herein are apparatus and method for resisting external articulation of one or more joints of a manipulator assembly when the joints are approaching mechanical limits. For example, an articulable system may include a joint mechanism, an actuator coupled to the joint mechanism, a sensor system for sensing a joint state and a controller. The controller can operate the articulable system in an external articulation facilitation mode. The controller can command the actuator to resist movement of the joint in response to the joint state indicating the joint is moving toward a mechanical limit location with a joint velocity meeting a first velocity criterion. The controller can also command the actuator resist movement of the joint at a second joint position when the joint velocity meets a second criterion.

Techniques for inter-arm registration include a computer-assisted system having a repositionable arm and a control unit coupled to the repositionable arm. The control unit is configured to receive, from an imaging device, image data of an instrument, the instrument mounted to the repositionable arm; determine an observed geometric property of a feature set of the instrument based on the image data, the feature set comprising at least one feature; determine an expected geometric property of the feature set based on at least kinematic data of the repositionable arm; determine a difference between the observed geometric property and the expected geometric property; update, based on the difference. a registration transform to produce an updated registration transform associated with the instrument; and control the instrument using the updated registration transform.