Approaches for granting control of robotic surgery systems located at patient-side locations are disclosed. Prior to granting control, disclosed approaches verify one or more of: compatibility of a surgeon console with a patient-side robotic surgery system, that a two-way audio and/or video communication between the patient side and surgeon side has been established, and that at least one network connection between the surgeon console and the patient-side robotic surgery system satisfies one or more network condition criteria. Disclosed approaches safeguard patient safety.