Patent ID: 9415510
Filing Date: 2016-08-16
CPC Classification: A61B,B25J

Claim Text:
1. A robotic method comprising: providing a manipulator arm including a movable distal end effector, a proximal portion coupled to a base, and a plurality of joints between the end effector and the base, the plurality of joints having sufficient degrees of freedom to allow a range of differing joint states for a given end effector state in a surgical work space; floating a first set of joints of the plurality of joints within a null-perpendicular space of a Jacobian, the first set of joints associated with a position of the end effector within the work space, wherein the null-perpendicular space is a joint velocity space in which movement of the first set of joints results in movement of the end effector; sensing a manual backdriving movement of the end effector to a desired position within the work space; calculating an auxiliary movement of a second set of joints of the plurality of joints to effect a desired movement of a proximal portion of the manipulator arm, wherein calculating the auxiliary movement comprises calculating joint velocities of the second set of joints within a null-space of the Jacobian, the null-space being orthogonal to the null-perpendicular space; and driving the second set of joints according to the calculated auxiliary movement concurrent with floating of the first set of joints.