A guided tool change procedure is employed in minimally invasive robotic surgery to guide a new tool quickly and precisely, after a tool change operation, back into close proximity to the operating position of the original tool prior to its removal from the surgical site. A first robotic surgical tool (500) is placed at an operating position inside the cavity using a slave manipulator (530) disposed outside the cavity, and the operating position is recorded. The first robotic surgical tool (500) is decoupled from the slave manipulator (530) and removed from the cavity. A second robotic surgical tool (510) is introduced into the cavity based on the recorded operating position, a target space is derived for placing the distal end of the second robotic surgical tool (510) in close proximity to the location of the distal end of the first robotic surgical tool (500) in the operating position prior to its removal from the cavity. A controller (534) is provided to control the slave manipulator (530) to guide the distal end of the second robotic surgical tool (510), during insertion of the second tool (510), to a location within the target space.
