Interactive image-guided surgical system

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A mechanical arm that is manipulable by a human operator, with the movement of the arm being trackable by a computer coupled to the arm, comprising:

a base that is fixable to a surface;

a first pair of joints coupled to said base;

a first arm link coupled at a first end to the first pair of joints and having two degrees of freedom provided by said first pair of joints;

a second pair of joints coupled to a second end of said first arm link;

a second arm link coupled to a first end to the second pair of joints and having four degrees of freedom provided by said first and second pairs of joints;

a third pair of joints coupled to a second end of said second arm link;

a tool holder coupled to said third pair of joints and having six degrees of freedom provided by said first, second and third pairs of joints;

a separate encoder coupled to each joint that electrically encodes movement of a joint relative to another joint and produces signals indicating the amount and direction of movement of the joint; and

wherein each of said arm links has a longitudinal axis, said pairs of joints define axes of rotation for adjoining arm links, and each of said axes of rotation is free to assume an orientation that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of either of said adjoining arm links.

2. A mechanical arm that is manipulable by a human operator, with the movement of the arm being trackable by a computer coupled to the arm, comprising:

a base that is fixable to a surface;

a first pair of joints coupled to said base;

a first arm link coupled at a first end to the first pair of joints and having two degrees of freedom provided by said first pair of joints;

a second pair of joints coupled to a second end of said first arm link;

a second arm link coupled to a first end to the second pair of joints and having four degrees of freedom provided by said first and second pairs of joints;

a third pair of joints coupled to a second end of said second arm link, wherein said pairs of joints are of the gimbal type;

a tool holder coupled to said third pair of joints and having six degrees of freedom provided by said first, second and third pairs of joints; and

a separate encoder coupled to each joint that electrically encodes movement of a joint relative to another joint and produces signals indicating the amount and direction of movement of the joint.

3. A mechanical arm that is manipulable by a human operator, with the movement of the arm being trackable by a computer coupled to the arm, comprising:

a base that is fixable to a surface;

a first pair of joints coupled to said base;

a first arm link coupled at a first end to the first pair of joints and having two degrees of freedom provided by said first pair of joints;

a second pair of joints coupled to a second end of said first arm link;

a second arm link coupled to a first end to the second pair of joints and having four degrees of freedom provided by said first and second pair of joints;

a third pair of joints coupled to a second end of said second arm link;

a tool holder coupled to said third pair of joints and having six degrees of freedom provided by said first, second and third pairs of joints; and

a separate optical encoder coupled to each joint that electrically encodes movement of a joint relative to another joint and produces signal indicating the amount and direction of movement of the joint.

4. The arm of claim 3, wherein the optical encoders are mounted within the joints.

5. The arm of claim 4, wherein each optical encoder includes a gear that drives the optical encoder, and each joint has a gear that is coupled to the joint and which drives the optical encoder gear, the joint gear and the optical encoder gear meshing at an angle so as to prevent backlash.

6. The arm of claim 5, wherein said angle is 6.degree..

7. The arm of claim 5, wherein said gears are quarter pitch spur gears.

8. The arm of claim 2, wherein said gimbal joints and said first and second arm links are made of stainless steel.

9. A mechanical arm that is manipulable by a human operator, with the movement of the arm being trackable by a computer coupled to the arm, comprising:

a base that is fixable to a surface;

a first pair of joints coupled to said base;

a first arm link coupled at a first end to the first pair of joints and having two degrees of freedom provided by said first pair of joints;

a second pair of joints coupled to a second end of said first arm link;

a second arm link coupled to a first end to the second pair of joints and having four degrees of freedom provided by said first and second pairs of joints;

a third pair of joints coupled to a second end of said second arm link;

a tool holder coupled to said third pair of joints and having six degrees of freedom provided by said first, second and third pairs of joints;

a separate encoder coupled to each joint that electrically encodes movement of a joint relative to another joint and produces signals indicating the amount and direction of movement of the joint; and

wherein said arm is sterilizable.

10. A mechanical arm that is manipulable by a human operator, with the movement of the arm being trackable by a computer coupled to the arm, comprising:

a base that is fixable to a surface;

a first pair of joints coupled to said base;

a first arm link coupled at a first end to the first pair of joints and having two degrees of freedom provided by said first pair of joints;

a second pair of joints coupled to a second end of said first arm link;

a second arm link coupled to a first end to the second pair of joints and having four degrees of freedom provided by said first and second pairs of joints;

a third pair of joints coupled to a second end of said second arm link;

a tool holder coupled to said third pair of joints and having six degrees of freedom provided by said first, second and third pairs of joints, wherein said tool holder is adapted to hold different types of surgical tools; and

a separate encoder coupled to each joint that electrically encodes movement of a joint relative to another joint and produces signals indicating the amount and direction of movement of the joint.