A comparative study for robot assisted vitreoretinal surgery: Micron vs. the Steady-Hand Robot

In vitreoretinal surgery, application of excessive forces and unintentional motion due to hand-tremor can easily result in serious complications. Robotic assistance when combined with tool-to-tissue force sensing capabilities has significant potential to improve such practice. In this paper, we evaluate the membrane peeling performance of a single user for two distinct robotic systems with integrated force sensing capabilities: Micron and the Steady-Hand Robot. We show that these systems provide promising performance improvement with similar impact on peeling forces and comparable tremor cancellation trends.