A system and method of reducing blade exposures includes a surgical cutting. The surgical cutting instrument includes an end effector located at a distal end of the surgical cutting instrument, one or more drive units, a shaft coupled to the drive unit, an articulated wrist coupling the end effector to the shaft, and one or more drive mechanisms in the shaft for coupling force or torque from the drive units to the end effector and the articulated wrist. The end effector includes opposable gripping jaws and a cutting blade. To perform a cutting operation, the surgical cutting instrument measures a jaw angle between the gripping jaws, measures articulation of the articulated wrist, corrects the jaw angle based on the articulation of the articulated wrist, determines a restriction on the cutting operation based on the corrected jaw angle, and performs or prevents the cutting operation based on the restriction.
