We describe the design and performance of a hand-held actively stabilized tool to increase accuracy in micro-surgery or other precision manipulation. It removes involuntary motion such as tremor by actuating the tip to counteract the effect of the undesired handle motion. The key components are a three-degree-of-freedom piezoelectric manipulator that has 400 μm range of motion, 1 N force capability, and bandwidth over 100 Hz, and an optical position measurement subsystem that acquires the tool pose with 4 μm resolution at 2000 samples/s. A control system using these components attenuates hand motion by at least 15 dB (a fivefold reduction). By considering the effect of the frequency response of Micron on the human visual feedback loop, we have developed a filter that reduces unintentional motion, yet preserves intuitive eye-hand coordination. We evaluated the effectiveness of Micron by measuring the accuracy of the human/machine system in three simple manipulation tasks. Handheld testing by three eye surgeons and three non-surgeons showed a reduction in position error of between 32% and 52%, depending on the error metric.

The paper describes the use of an active handheld micromanipulator, known as Micron, for micromanipulation of cells. The device enables users to manipulate objects on the order of tens of microns in size, with the natural ease of use of a fully handheld tool. Micron senses its own position using a purpose-built microscale optical tracker, estimates the erroneous or undesired component of hand motion, and actively corrects it by deflecting its own tool tip using piezoelectric actuators. Benchtop experiments in tip positioning show that active compensation can reduce positioning error by up to 51% compared to unaided performance. Preliminary experiments in bisection of sea urchin embryos exhibit an increased success rate when performed with the help of Micron.