Preoperative planning system for surgical robotics setup with kinematics and haptics

Recently, some useful robotic surgical systems have been developed and applied in many surgical situations. Systems such as the da VinciTM surgical system of Intuitive Surgical Inc., which facilitates minimally invasive surgery with increased dexterity, are commercially available. Preoperative simulation and planning of surgical robot setups should accompany advanced robotic surgery if their advantages are to be further pursued. Feedback from the planning system will play an essential role in computer‐aided robotic surgery in addition to preoperative detailed geometric information from patient CT/MRI images. Surgical robot setup simulation systems for appropriate trocar site placement have been developed especially for abdominal surgery. The motion of the surgical robot can be simulated and rehearsed with kinematic constraints at the trocar site, and the inverse‐kinematics of the robot. Results from simulation using clinical patient data verify the effectiveness of the proposed system. Copyright © 2005 Robotic Publications Ltd.