1. A method for simulating a robotic surgical procedure on a computer, the method comprising: identifying a plurality of port optimization criteria; assigning numerical values to the port optimization criteria associated with each of at least two candidate port arrangements; computing a cost metric for each candidate port arrangement, the cost metric comprising a weighted combination of the numerical values assigned to the port optimization criteria for that candidate port arrangement; selecting the candidate port arrangement having an optimal value of the cost metric; and simulating a robotic surgical procedure on a human body with the selected candidate port arrangement as the arrangement of a plurality of surgical entry ports in the human body.