Patent ID: 8657736

Claim:
A medical robotic system comprising: an entry guide; an entry guide manipulator for manipulating the entry guide relative to a remote center; a plurality of articulatable instruments extending through the entry guide and out of a distal end of the entry guide, the plurality of articulatable instruments including a first articulatable instrument and an articulatable camera; an input device; and a controller configured to receive a desired state of the articulatable camera from the input device, configured to determine a desired state of the entry guide to achieve the desired state of the articulatable camera, configured to determine desired states of mechanical elements of the entry guide manipulator for effecting the desired state of the entry guide, and configured to command the mechanical elements of the entry guide manipulator to be moved so as to effect the desired state of the entry guide while limiting the movements of the mechanical elements so as to avoid a resulting linear velocity of a tip of the first articulatable instrument from exceeding a maximum allowable linear velocity for the tip of the first articulatable instrument, wherein the linear velocity of the tip of the first articulatable instrument is determined using a length of the tip of the first articulatable instrument that extends beyond the distal end of the entry guide.