This group of inventions provides means and methods for preventing the damaging portions of surgical tools, such as laparoscopic devices, from adversely contacting tissues and organs that are not in the desired field of surgery. As such, the present disclosure pertains to any form of a warning or positioning device or methods, including those that are facilitated via software that are adapted and arranged for use in tracking portions of surgical instruments during laparoscopic surgery or other medical procedures. Such systems include those that are adapted and arranged to provide a warning to the surgeon or other medical personnel regarding the positional status of an instrument, and those that are adapted and arranged for disabling or attenuating the portions of those instruments that might be dangerous to a patient when a dangerous portion of the instrument is near or outside the desired, or denominated, field of surgery. Data relating to the position and orientation of the instrument and of the position of a safe zone within which the instrument can be kept safely is optionally (preferably) stored throughout a medical procedure for later playback for training purposes or for ensuring that a patient was not injured during a medical procedure.
