A system and method for detecting a disturbance as an energy applicator of a surgical instrument traverses a cutting path

2018202741 A method for detecting a disturbance as an energy applicator of a surgical instrument traverses a cutting path, the method being implemented on at least one computing device having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, said method comprising the steps of: executing the program stored on the computer-readable storage medium, wherein the program instructs the at least one computing device to: determine actual torques for each active joint of an actuated arm mechanism; calculate expected torques for each active joint of the actuated arm mechanism, wherein the expected torques are calculated based on an angular position of each active joint and a commanded joint angle for each active joint; determine estimated backdrive torques based on the expected torques and the actual torques, wherein the estimated backdrive torques indicate a disturbance along the cutting path.