Determining Relative Robot Base Positions Using Computer Vision

{
  "publication_number": "US2020205911A1",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A1",
  "title": "Determining Relative Robot Base Positions Using Computer Vision",
  "abstract": "A robot-assisted surgical system comprises a plurality of robotic system components independently positionable relative to a patient in a room, at least one of the robotic system components being a robotic manipulator configured for robotic positioning of a surgical instrument in a body cavity. Other robotic system components may include a second robotic manipulator and/or a patient bed. A camera is positioned to generate an image of a portion of the room, including the robotic manipulator, or an instrument carried by the robotic manipulator as it is moved within the body. Image processing is used to detect the robotic system components on the image captured by the camera, or the tracked portion of the instrument. Once the robotic components or tracked portion of the instruments are detected in the image, the relative positions of the bases within the room may be determined.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A robotic surgical system, comprising: at least two robotic manipulators at least one camera; wherein the system is configured to receive image data obtained using the camera and to determine using the image data the relative positions of the respective bases of the robotic manipulators. 2. The system of claim 1, in which the camera is positioned to capture images of at least a portion of each the robotic manipulators 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the robotic manipulators include markings and wherein the image data includes image data related to the markings. 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the robotic manipulators include light emitting elements and wherein the image data includes image data related to the light emitting elements. 5. The system of claim 4 wherein at least one light emitting element is an infrared element. 6. The system of claim 4 wherein at least one light emitting element is a system status or function indicator. 7. The system of claim 4, wherein each robotic manipulator includes a plurality of status or function indicators, and wherein the image data includes image data related to the plurality of the status or function indicators. 8. The system of claim 3, wherein the markings include logos. 9. A method of determining relative positions of independent robotic system components, comprising: capturing at least one image of at least two robotic system components; using image data from the captured image, determining the relative positions of the robotic system components. 10. (canceled) 11. A robot-assisted surgical system comprising: at plurality of robotic system components independently moveable in a room, at least one of the robotic system components being a robotic manipulator configured for robotic positioning of a surgical instrument in a body cavity, a camera for generating an image of a portion of the room, including the robotic system components; at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory storing instructions executable by said at least one processor to: detect using image processing the robotic system components on the image captured by the camera and determine the relative positions of the robotic system components. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the robotic system components is a patient table. 13. The system of claim 11, wherein at least two of the robotic system components are robotic manipulators. 14. (canceled) 15. The system of claim 1 wherein the camera is an endoscope 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the camera is a 2-dimensional endoscopic camera. 17. The system of claim 15 wherein the camera is a 3-dimensional endoscopic camera. 18. The system of claim 1 wherein the camera is positioned external to a patient body. 19. The system of claim 1 wherein the image data is captured for tracked items inserted through trocars into a body cavity 20. The system of claim 1 wherein the image data is for tracked laparoscopic instruments 21. The system of claim 1, wherein the image data is for tracked items tracked items of known geometry and/or markings that are incorporated specifically to assist in recognition and tracking"
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "In robot surgery, for coordinated motion between arms, or for automatic movements, it is often necessary to understand the relative positioning between robotic arms. For surgical robots having multiple arms that emanate from a common base, acquiring the relative position can be performed simply based on known kinematics. For surgical robotic systems in which the robotic arms are mounted on separate carts that may be individually moved, acquiring the relative positioning is more difficult.\n\nThe described invention is means of determining the relative positioning of bases of a surgical robotic system using computer vision.\n\nAlthough the inventions described herein may be used on a variety of robotic surgical systems, the embodiments will be described with reference to a system of the type shown in FIG. 1. In the illustrated system, a surgeon console 12 has two input devices such as handles 17, 18 that the surgeon selectively assigns to two of the robotic manipulators 13, 14, 15, allowing surgeon control of two of the surgical instruments 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c disposed at the working site at any given time. To control a third one of the instruments disposed at the working site, one of the two handles 17, 18 is operatively disengaged from one of the initial two instruments and then operatively paired with the third instrument. A fourth robotic manipulator, not shown in FIG. 1, may supports and maneuvers an additional instrument.\n\nOne of the instruments 10 a, 10 b, 10 c is a laparoscopic camera that captures images for display on a display 23 at the surgeon console 12.",
  "cpc": [
    "A61B 34/30",
    "A61B 2017/00216",
    "A61B 2034/2055",
    "A61B 2034/2057",
    "A61B 2034/2065",
    "A61B 2034/301",
    "A61B 2034/303",
    "A61B 2090/365",
    "A61B 2090/3945",
    "A61B 2090/3979",
    "A61B 34/20",
    "A61B 34/37",
    "A61B 90/361",
    "A61B 90/96"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "A61B 34/20",
    "A61B 34/30",
    "A61B 90/00",
    "A61B 34/37"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Transenterix Surgical Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Kevin Andrew Hufford",
    "Caleb Osborne"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2020-01-02",
  "publication_date": "2020-07-02",
  "priority_date": "2019-01-01",
  "application_number": "US-202016733200-A",
  "family_id": "71123762",
  "cited_by_count": 10,
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    "US20170079722A1",
    "US20190069962A1",
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  ]
}