A surgical system comprising: a detector, comprising an array of pixels configured to detect light reflected by a surgical instrument and generate a first signal comprising a first dataset representative of an image of the surgical instrument; and a processor configured to: receive the first signal, generate a modified image of the surgical instrument that includes a control panel, wherein the control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a first set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, receive an input to the control panel from a user, the input being effective to change one of the operating parameters, generate a command signal based on the input to the control panel to change one of the operating parameters, characterized in that the processor is furthermore configured to: receive a second signal representative of information related to the surgical instrument, and update the control panel based on the second signal and data related to the surgical instrument that is stored in a database; wherein the updated control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a second set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, wherein the second set of one or more operating parameters is different from the first set of one or more operating parameters. a detector, comprising an array of pixels configured to detect light reflected by a surgical instrument and generate a first signal comprising a first dataset representative of an image of the surgical instrument; and a processor configured to: receive the first signal, generate a modified image of the surgical instrument that includes a control panel, wherein the control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a first set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, receive an input to the control panel from a user, the input being effective to change one of the operating parameters, generate a command signal based on the input to the control panel to change one of the operating parameters, characterized in that the processor is furthermore configured to: receive a second signal representative of information related to the surgical instrument, and update the control panel based on the second signal and data related to the surgical instrument that is stored in a database; wherein the updated control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a second set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, wherein the second set of one or more operating parameters is different from the first set of one or more operating parameters. receive the first signal, generate a modified image of the surgical instrument that includes a control panel, wherein the control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a first set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, receive an input to the control panel from a user, the input being effective to change one of the operating parameters, generate a command signal based on the input to the control panel to change one of the operating parameters, characterized in that the processor is furthermore configured to: receive a second signal representative of information related to the surgical instrument, and update the control panel based on the second signal and data related to the surgical instrument that is stored in a database; wherein the updated control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a second set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, wherein the second set of one or more operating parameters is different from the first set of one or more operating parameters. receive a second signal representative of information related to the surgical instrument, and update the control panel based on the second signal and data related to the surgical instrument that is stored in a database; wherein the updated control panel comprises one or more control elements representative of a second set of one or more operating parameters of the surgical instrument, wherein the second set of one or more operating parameters is different from the first set of one or more operating parameters.