Robotic surgical system and method

1. A method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot, the method including:

securing at least one radiopaque fiducial point device to a patient;

creating a first digital image and storing it in a computer, said first image including a portion of a patient and the at least one fiducial point device visible in the first image;

positioning at least one multi-axis first robot adjacent a patient, said robot having a plurality of interconnected arms with one said arm being mounted to a base, said arms being movable relative to one another, one said arm being a distal arm and having a tool holder configured to releasably and alternately retain at least one surgical tool and an ultrasound probe, said computer being electrically coupled to the robot and operable to control movement of the arms in response to commands supplied to the computer from a controller electrically coupled to the computer;

creating at least one second image of at least said portion of a patient during surgery with said ultrasound probe secured to said distal arm of said multi-axis first robot and storing said at least one second image in the computer;

overlaying the first image and the second image for viewing and displaying said overlaid first and second images on a monitor coupled to the computer, said overlaid first and second images including at least a portion of a surgical site of the patient and the at least one fiducial point device, said computer being operable to adjust the position of the first image to the second image using the at least one fiducial point device for alignment with respect to each other;

operating the at least one robot with the controller; and

operating on the patient with the multi-axis first robot having the surgical tool attached to the tool holder while viewing the overlaid first and second images.

2. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 1 including a tool changer positioned within reach of the distal arm of the first multi-axis robot, a tool change rack positioned adjacent the tool changer and operable to hold a plurality of surgical tools, each tool configured to be secured to the tool holder in response to a command from the controller, wherein the distal arm is positioned relative to the tool changer to allow the tool changer to position a surgical tool from the tool change rack in position for securement by the tool holder to the distal arm.

3. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 2 wherein the computer includes the length and diameter of the surgical tools stored in a computer memory.

4. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 3 wherein the length and diameter of the surgical tool is utilized to alter the tool path of the first multi-axis robot.

5. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 2 wherein each surgical tool is provided with a shaped shank, the shank being shaped to cooperate with a shaped cavity provided in the distal arm of the first multi-axis surgical robot.

6. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 2 wherein the tool changer is constructed and arranged to remove the surgical tool from the tool holder and place the surgical tool into the tool change rack.

7. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 6 wherein surgical tool selection is controlled by the computer to position a surgical tool for attachment to the distal arm via the tool changer.

8. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 1 including a second multi-axis robot positioned adjacent the patient, said second robot said robot having a plurality of interconnected arms with one said arm being mounted to a base, said arms being movable relative to one another, one said arm being a distal arm and having a tool holder configured to releasably and alternately retain at least one surgical tool or an ultrasound probe;

positioning the second multi-axis robot adjacent the patient, said computer being electrically coupled to the robot and operable to control movement of the second robot arms in response to commands supplied to the computer from a controller electrically coupled to the computer;

creating at least one real-time image of at least said portion of a patient during surgery with said ultrasound probe secured to said distal arm of said second multi-axis robot and overlaying the first image and the real-time image for viewing and display on the monitor coupled to the computer, said overlaid first and real-time images including at least the portion of a surgical site of the patient and the at least one fiducial point device, said computer being operable to adjust the position of the first image to the real time image using the at least one fiducial point device for alignment with respect to each other.

9. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 8 including operating on the patient with the multi-axis first robot having the surgical tool attached to the tool holder while providing real-time images to the computer for viewing with the second multi-axis robot having the ultrasound probe secured thereto.

10. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 8 wherein the computer is constructed and arranged to further display a tool path of said first multi-axis robot on the overlaid first and second images.

11. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 8 wherein the first image is a three dimensional image, the computer and the second multi-axial robot in electrical communication to align the plane of the second image with the first image so that the combined image is shown as a two dimension aligned plane image.

12. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 8 wherein the tool changer is positioned within reach of the distal arm of the second multi-axis robot, the tool change rack positioned adjacent the tool changer and operable to hold a plurality of surgical tools, each tool configured to be secured to the tool holder of the second multi-axis robot in response to a command from the controller, wherein the distal arm of the second multi-axis robot is positioned relative to the tool changer to allow the tool changer to position a surgical tool from the tool change rack in position for securement by the tool holder to the distal arm of the second multi-axis robot.

13. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 12 wherein the tool changer is constructed and arranged to remove the surgical tool from the tool holder of the second multi-axis robot and place the surgical tool into the tool change rack.

14. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 13 wherein the tool change rack is controlled by the computer to position a surgical tool for attachment to the distal arm of the second multi-axis robot via the tool changer.

15. The method of performing a surgical procedure using a multi-axis robot as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first image is a computerized tomography image.