Virtual simulation system for collision avoidance for medical robot.

For the collision avoidance with a medical robot with 6 DOF a virtual simulation system is presented. Manipulator and obstacles are modelled by geometric primitives. Collisions are detected in the Cartesian workspace by hierarchical distance computation based on the given CAD model. The application initially being addressed is maxillofacial surgery, where the safety of the patient is the main requirement,because of the closeness to vital parts. The simulation system allows the surgeon to check up the trajectory of the robot before the current operation begins.