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Main Authors: Tian, Huanyu, Huber, Martin, Zeng, Lingyun, Han, Zhe, Bennett, Wayne, Silvestri, Giuseppe, Mendizabal-Ruiz, Gerardo, Vercauteren, Tom, Chavez-Badiola, Alejandro, Bergeles, Christos
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20776
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author Tian, Huanyu
Huber, Martin
Zeng, Lingyun
Han, Zhe
Bennett, Wayne
Silvestri, Giuseppe
Mendizabal-Ruiz, Gerardo
Vercauteren, Tom
Chavez-Badiola, Alejandro
Bergeles, Christos
author_facet Tian, Huanyu
Huber, Martin
Zeng, Lingyun
Han, Zhe
Bennett, Wayne
Silvestri, Giuseppe
Mendizabal-Ruiz, Gerardo
Vercauteren, Tom
Chavez-Badiola, Alejandro
Bergeles, Christos
contents This paper rethinks steady-hand robotic manipulation by using a weakly supervised framework that fuses calibration-aware perception with admittance control. Unlike conventional automation that relies on labor-intensive 2D labeling, our framework leverages reusable warm-up trajectories to extract implicit spatial information, thereby achieving calibration-aware, depth-resolved perception without the need for external fiducials or manual depth annotation. By explicitly characterizing residuals from observation and calibration models, the system establishes a task-space error budget from recorded warm-ups. The uncertainty budget yields a lateral closed-loop accuracy of approx. 49 micrometers at 95% confidence (worst-case testing subset) and a depth accuracy of <= 291 micrometers at 95% confidence bound during large in-plane moves. In a within-subject user study (N=8), the learned agent reduces overall NASA-TLX workload by 77.1% relative to the simple steady-hand assistance baseline. These results demonstrate that the weakly supervised agent improves the reliability of microscope-guided biomedical micromanipulation without introducing complex setup requirements, offering a practical framework for microscope-guided intervention.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_20776
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learning From a Steady Hand: A Weakly Supervised Agent for Robot Assistance under Microscopy
Tian, Huanyu
Huber, Martin
Zeng, Lingyun
Han, Zhe
Bennett, Wayne
Silvestri, Giuseppe
Mendizabal-Ruiz, Gerardo
Vercauteren, Tom
Chavez-Badiola, Alejandro
Bergeles, Christos
Robotics
This paper rethinks steady-hand robotic manipulation by using a weakly supervised framework that fuses calibration-aware perception with admittance control. Unlike conventional automation that relies on labor-intensive 2D labeling, our framework leverages reusable warm-up trajectories to extract implicit spatial information, thereby achieving calibration-aware, depth-resolved perception without the need for external fiducials or manual depth annotation. By explicitly characterizing residuals from observation and calibration models, the system establishes a task-space error budget from recorded warm-ups. The uncertainty budget yields a lateral closed-loop accuracy of approx. 49 micrometers at 95% confidence (worst-case testing subset) and a depth accuracy of <= 291 micrometers at 95% confidence bound during large in-plane moves. In a within-subject user study (N=8), the learned agent reduces overall NASA-TLX workload by 77.1% relative to the simple steady-hand assistance baseline. These results demonstrate that the weakly supervised agent improves the reliability of microscope-guided biomedical micromanipulation without introducing complex setup requirements, offering a practical framework for microscope-guided intervention.
title Learning From a Steady Hand: A Weakly Supervised Agent for Robot Assistance under Microscopy
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20776