Patent ID: 8170716

Claim:
A method for configuring a processor to determine a candidate arrangement of a plurality of robotic arms for a surgical procedure, the method comprising: configuring the processor to receive information of a target area in which a surgical procedure is to be performed within a patient; using the processor, identifying a first candidate arrangement of the plurality of robotic arms, each robotic arm being manipulatable in a plurality of degrees of freedom and being adapted to hold a surgical device for performing the surgical procedure, the candidate arrangement defining the positions of a plurality of entry points into the patient for inserting surgical devices held by the plurality of robotic arms; for the first candidate arrangement, determining whether any one of the plurality of robotic arms may collide with another one of the plurality of robotic arms during the surgical procedure using the received information of the target area, the determining comprising validating the surgical procedure by executing a computer program to detect a possibility of collision between any two of the plurality of robotic arms during the surgical procedure; for the first candidate arrangement, further computing at least one attack angle as the angle between a preferred attack direction to a target point specified by a surgeon and a line from an entry point for the robotic arm to the target point; if the first candidate arrangement is determined to result in a possibility of collision, repeating the identifying, determining, and computing for at least one alternative candidate arrangement of the plurality of robotic arms; and selecting for the surgical procedure a candidate arrangement wherein the plurality of robotic arms will not collide, the selecting further comprising assigning preference to a candidate arrangement having a lower attack angle.