Patent ID: 8632552

Claim:
A method of preparing a femur and tibia in surgery on a knee joint using a navigation system and a robotic system comprising a base, a plurality of articulate arms movable relative to 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, said method comprising the steps of: arranging the navigation system to track movement of the femur and tibia during the surgery; cutting away material from the femur with the cutting tool of the robotic system and without the use of physical resection guides while the navigation system tracks movement of the femur wherein the navigation system cooperates with the robotic system to provide information associated with a position of the femur to the robotic system; cutting away material from the tibia with the cutting tool of the robotic system and without the use of physical resection guides while the navigation system tracks movement of the tibia wherein the navigation system cooperates with the robotic system to provide information associated with a position of the tibia to the robotic system; affixing a first member of a knee implant to the femur to replace at least a portion of the material cut away from the femur; affixing a second member of the knee implant to the tibia opposite the first member to replace at least a portion of the material cut away from the tibia, wherein the navigation system enables separate tracking of the femur and tibia so that positions of the femur and tibia can be determined when the femur and tibia move during the surgery, wherein movement of the cutting tool relative to the femur is represented on a display and movement of the cutting tool relative to the tibia is represented on the display.