Patent ID: 8641726

Claim:
A method for robotic knee surgery on a femur and tibia of a knee joint, said method comprising the steps of: providing a robotic system including a base, a plurality of articulate arms movable relative to the base, motors and controls supported by the base, and a cutting tool coupled to the plurality of articulate arms so that the cutting tool is capable of movement in at least five degrees of freedom relative to the base; providing a navigation system; tracking positions of the femur and tibia during the surgery with the navigation system as the femur and tibia move during the surgery; communicating information related to the tracked positions of the femur and tibia from the navigation system to the robotic system; guiding movement of the cutting tool of the robotic system relative to the femur and tibia so that material from the femur and tibia can be removed by the cutting tool without the use of physical resection guides; and removing material from the femur and tibia with the cutting tool and without the use of physical resection guides.