Robotic surgical system with recovery alignment

1 . A method of operation of a robotically-assisted surgical system, comprising:

capturing a first pose of a surgical tool during the operation of the robotically-assisted surgical system;

intraoperatively defining a target orientation for the surgical tool using the first pose of the surgical tool; and

controlling a robotic device to automatically move the surgical tool to the target orientation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein intraoperatively defining the target orientation for the surgical tool using the first pose comprises:

determining whether the first pose is in a first category or a second category; and

defining the target orientation as a first orientation if the first pose is in the first category and defining the target orientation as a second orientation if the first pose is in the second category.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the first category corresponds to poses in which the surgical tool points at least partially in a medial-to-lateral direction with respect to a joint of a patient; and

the second category corresponds to poses in which the surgical tool points at least partially in a lateral-to-medial direction with respect to the joint of the patient.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:

defining the target orientation as the first orientation comprises dynamically defining the first orientation as a component of the first pose; and

defining the target orientation as the second orientation comprises providing the second orientation using a static orientation.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein determining whether the first pose is in the first category or the second category comprises checking whether the surgical tool is further than a threshold distance from a landmark.

6 . The method of claim 1 , intraoperatively defining the target orientation for the surgical tool using the first pose of the surgical tool is based on whether the first pose of the surgical tool is within a threshold distance of an anatomical landmark.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein intraoperatively defining the target orientation for the surgical tool using the first pose of the surgical tool comprises assigning a first orientation as the target orientation when the first pose is within the threshold distance of the anatomical landmark and assigning a second orientation as the target orientation when the first pose is outside the threshold distance of the anatomical landmark.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein controlling the robotic device to automatically move the surgical tool to the target orientation further comprises controlling the robotic device to move the surgical tool away from the anatomical landmark.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the robotic device to automatically move the surgical tool to the target orientation further comprises controlling the robotic device to automatically move the surgical tool to a position in a virtual haptic geometry.

10 . A robotically-assisted surgical system, comprising:

a robotic device;

a surgical tool coupled to the robotic device; and

a control system programmed to:

define a target orientation for the surgical tool using a tracked first pose of the surgical tool; and

control the robotic device to automatically move the surgical tool to the target orientation.

11 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 10 , wherein the control system is programed to define the target orientation by:

determining whether the tracked first pose is in a first category or a second category; and

defining the target orientation as a first orientation if the tracked first pose is in the first category and defining the target orientation as a second orientation if the tracked first pose is in the second category.

12 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 11 , wherein:

the first category corresponds to poses in which the surgical tool points at least partially in a medial-to-lateral direction with respect to a joint of a patient; and

the second category corresponds to poses in which the surgical tool points at least partially in a lateral-to-medial direction with respect to the joint of the patient.

13 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 11 , wherein the control system is programmed to:

define the target orientation as the first orientation by dynamically defining the first orientation as a component of the tracked first pose; and

define the target orientation as the second orientation by providing the second orientation using a static orientation.

14 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 11 , wherein the control system is programmed to determine whether the tracked first pose is in the first category or the second category by checking whether the tracked first pose of the surgical tool is further than a threshold distance from a landmark.

15 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 10 , wherein the control system is programmed to define the target orientation for the surgical tool based on whether the tracked first pose of the surgical tool is within a threshold distance of an anatomical landmark.

16 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 15 , wherein the control system is programmed to define the target orientation for the surgical tool by assigning a first orientation as the target orientation when the tracked first pose is within the threshold distance of the anatomical landmark and assigning a second orientation as the target orientation when the tracked first pose is outside the threshold distance of the anatomical landmark.

17 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 10 , wherein the surgical tool is a cutting guide, drill guide, or jig.

18 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 10 , wherein the surgical tool is a saw, drill, or burr.

19 . The robotically-assisted surgical system of claim 10 , further comprising an optical tracking system configured to track a patient and provide data to the control system indicative of the tracked first pose relative to the patient.

20 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

intraoperatively defining a target orientation for a surgical tool based on whether a tracked pose of the surgical tool is in a first category or a second category; and

controlling a robotic device to automatically move the surgical tool to the target orientation.