Supervisory control of a DaVinci surgical robot

This paper presents an approach to supervisory control of a DaVinci surgical robot. At present, such robots are controlled by teleoperation, with dissimilar kinematics of the operator interface vs. the robot. As a result, it can be difficult for the operator to visualize the kinematic restrictions on the robot, particularly for desired extended, precise trajectories, such as circular needle driving. The interface presented here constitutes a means to elevate the operator from teleoperation mode to supervisory mode. The operator interacts directly with a point-cloud display, allowing selection of task specifications from which the system automatically computes and executes precise trajectories to achieve the task goals. The intent is to allow the operator to focus on task specifications and rely on automation to achieve faster and more precise execution.