SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING SUBSTANTIALLY STABLE CONTROL OF A SURGICAL TOOL

A system for providing substantially stable control of a surgical instrument is provided. The system includes a surgical manipulator for manipulating the surgical instrument and at least one computer configured to identify a first subset and a second subset of interaction geometric primitives associated with a virtual tool; determine, based on the first subset, control forces in a first subspace; and determine based on the second subset, control forces in a second subspace having at least one additional dimension. Control forces in the additional dimension are only determined based on the second subset of primitives, which is different than the first subset of primitives. The computer is further configured to determine a torque to constrain an orientation of the surgical instrument, wherein determining the torque comprises defining a virtual tool normal and a control plane normal and using the virtual tool normal and control plane normal to calculate the torque.