This paper reports the development of a robotic system designed to extend a human's ability to perform small-scale (sub-millimeter) manipulation tasks requiring human judgement, sensory integration and hand-eye coordination.Our novel approach, which we call "steady hand" micromanipulation, is for tools to be held simultaneously both by the operator's hand and a specially designed actively controlled robot arm. The robot's controller senses forces exerted by the operator on the tool and by the tool on the environment, and uses this information in various control modes to provide smooth, tremor-free precise positional control and force scaling. Our goal is to develop a manipulation system with the precision and sensitivity of a machine, but with the manipulative transparency and immediacy of handheld tools for tasks characterized by compliant or semi-rigid contacts with the environment.
This paper reports the development of a new miniature force sensor designed to measure contact forces at the tip of a microsurgical instrument in three dimensions, and its application to scaled force feedback using a cooperatively manipulated microsurgical assistant robot. The principal features of the sensor are its small size of 12.5 mm in diameter and 15 mm in height, a novel configuration of flexure beams and strain gauges in order to measure forces isotropically at the instrument tip 40 mm from the sensor body, and sub-mN three-axis force-sensing resolution. Index Terms-Clinical human computer interfaces, force sensor, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based medical devices, robotics and robotic manipulators.
This device has applications in microsurgery where tremor and fatigue limit the performance of an unaided hand and where mechanically constrained manipulators are inappropriate due to size and operative constraints.
This paper reports preliminary experiments with a new robot system designed to cooperatively extend a human's ability to perform fine manipulation tasks requiring human judgement, sensory integration and hand-eye coordination. A recently completed steady-hand robot is reported. A stable force control law is reviewed. Preliminary experiments validate theoretical predictions of stable one-dimensional control of tool-tip forces in contact with both linearly and nonlinearly compliant objects. Preliminary feasibility experiments demonstrate stable one-dimensional robotic augmentation and 'yorce scaling" of a human operator's tactile input.
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