da Vinci Research Kit

 

Intuitive started to support the da Vinci Research Kit community some time ago. 

"There is a Wiki for users of the Research Kit for the da Vinci . The Research Kit is a collection of first-generation da Vinci components that can be used to assemble a research platform for exploring telerobotics in medicine. The Kit contains the following components:

• Two da Vinci Master Tool Manipulators (MTMs)
• Two da Vinci Patient Side Manipulators (PSMs)
• A stereo viewer
• A foot pedal tray
• Manipulator Interface Boards (dMIBs)
• Basic accessory kit"

Groups in good standing can also apply for technology grants. 

May 2013, the Hopkins folks released the first public version of the da Vinci Research Kit controller, in collaboration with Intuitive and WPI. 

 "The sawIntuitiveResearchKit folder provides several example applications for controlling the Research Kit for da Vinci System using the  IEEE-1394 (Firewire) controller. The picture above shows two Controllers connected to two da Vinci Patient Side Manipulators (PSMs) at different sites.

The applications contain graphical user interfaces written in Qt, and make use of the following SAW Qt components:

• mtsRobotIO1394QtWidget (sawRobotIO1394 folder)
• mtsPIDQtWidget (sawControllers folder)
• mtsTeleoperationQtWidget (sawControllers folder)

The components are cross-platform, except for mtsRobotIO1394, which relies on a low-level IEEE-1394 interface library (libraw1394) that is primarily available on Linux. Thus, the build instructions focus on Linux. For setting up the Firewire interface on Linux, see  this page.

A ROS interface is available via mtsROSBridge (sawROS folder)."