US 12,471,894 B2
Method and system for controlling flexible devices in presence of abnormal sensor signals
Samuel B. Schorr, East Palo Alto, CA (US); Nicola Diolaiti, Menlo Park, CA (US); and Wanxi Liu, Foster City, CA (US)
Assigned to Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/762,327
Filed by Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
PCT Filed Sep. 25, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/052859
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 21, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/062253, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 1, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/906,713, filed on Sep. 26, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0273280 A1, Sep. 1, 2022
Int. Cl. A61B 17/00 (2006.01); A61B 34/20 (2016.01); A61B 34/30 (2016.01); A61B 34/37 (2016.01); B25J 9/16 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 17/00234 (2013.01) [A61B 34/37 (2016.02); B25J 9/1653 (2013.01); B25J 9/1679 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00398 (2013.01); A61B 2034/2051 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2061 (2016.02); A61B 2034/301 (2016.02)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-assisted medical system, comprising:
a flexible catheter configured to articulate along a degree of freedom;
an actuator disposed at a proximal portion of the flexible catheter, wherein the actuator is configured to actuate the flexible catheter along the degree of freedom;
an articulation sensor configured to provide articulation sensor signals representing articulation of the flexible catheter;
an actuator sensor configured to provide actuator sensor signals representing movement of the actuator; and
a controller coupled to the actuator and configured to, based on detecting an abnormality in a first articulation sensor signal:
temporarily switching from:
using the articulation sensor signals to control the actuator
to:
determining an articulation estimate of the flexible catheter, based on a relationship between the movement of the actuator and the articulation of the flexible catheter caused by the movement of the actuator, applied to a first actuator sensor signal obtained from the actuator sensor; and
controlling the actuator based on the articulation estimate.