Herein, a semiautonomous robot control system for mandible reconstruction surgery is proposed. To reconstruct a segmental defect of the mandible caused by cancerous tissue, a piece of matched fibula bone is often segmented and used to replace the removed mandible section. Herein, to provide guidance to the surgeon during fibula segmentation according to the reconstruction surgical plan and improve the fibula bone cutting accuracy, an admittance‐controlled robotic assistant incorporating 3D augmented reality (AR) visualization and haptic virtual fixtures (VFs) is proposed. The admittance controller is used to reduce the surgeon's hand tremor. VF and AR are used to provide haptic and visual guidance to the surgeon, respectively. A feasibility study is conducted through a comparison of fibula osteotomies when performed with image‐guided surgery, AR‐guided surgery, VF‐guided robot‐assisted surgery, and AR‐ and VF‐guided robot‐assisted surgery. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed admittance‐controlled robotic assistant with AR and VF compared with the other three methods. The proposed method is found to be able to increase precision of the osteotomized segments with a lower average linear variation of 1.04 ± 0.79 mm and a lower average angular variation of 1.83 ± 1.85° compared with the virtual preoperative plan.

Play has a vital role in a child’s development; it can affect everything from social and language to cognitive and perceptual skills. However, if a child has a physical disability, the fundamental limitations of their disability may prevent them from participating in all forms of play. Construction and block play is an example of play that may be difficult for children who have reduced upper body strength and are, therefore, unable to manipulate heavier objects in space. In this paper, we propose a novel 6 degree-of-freedom admittance-controlled, force-scaling robot that will allow for children to lift heavier objects than they would normally be able to, while still retaining the full range of motion of their upper body. This assistive system is designed to retain the user’s haptic perception, allowing the user to still partially feel the weight of the objects that they are manipulating. Two user studies are done to evaluate the usability of the system. First, to ensure that the force scaling of the system does not negatively affect a user’s haptic perception, 10 able-bodied individuals were asked to order a series of buckets with identical appearances but different masses from lightest to heaviest with three different force-scaling factors. It was shown that the force amplification ability of the system does not significantly detract from users’ ability to discriminate masses. Second, to evaluate the precision and the usefulness of the force scaling of the system, users were asked to perform a challenging peg-in-hole insertion task. Results indicate that the system has a positive effect on the ability of a user to perform the task when the assistance is necessary. However, increasing amounts of assistance, past those required for participants to complete the task without issues, do not have any significant effect. The effect of a modular reacher bar that can augment the workspace of users is investigated through a similar peg-in-hole insertion task. For the trials with the modular reacher bar attached, it is shown that the system’s force amplification has a very positive effect in assisting users in completing the task. It should be noted that although the target population for this paper is children with disabilities, there can also be uses for this system as a general assistive technology for adults with upper-body weakness in their daily lives.