Abstract
This paper describes the ongoing development of a robotic assistant for microsurgery and other precise manipulation tasks. It reports a new and optimized version of a steady-hand manipulator for retinal surgery. The surgeon and the robot share control of a tool attached to the robot through a force sensor. The robot's controller senses forces exerted by the operator on the tool and uses this information in various control modes to provide smooth, tremor-free precise positional control and force scaling. The result is a system with a higher efficacy, flexibility and ergonomics while meeting the accuracy and safety requirements of microsurgery.