Design and Evaluation of a Gravity Compensation Mechanism for a Hands-on User Interface for Articulated Forceps

Abstract

In our previous work, we have proposed a hands-on user interface designed to provide a surgeon with intuitive and safe operation of articulated forceps based on a passive mechanism. In this paper, we propose a spring balance-based gravity compensation mechanism for our proposed user interface to improve its operability. We present experimental results to demonstrate the balancing performance and usability in a tracing task.