Experimental evaluation of contact-less hand tracking systems for tele-operation of surgical tasks

This paper reports an evaluation of contact-less hand tracking sensors for the use of tele-operation, in particular for surgical robotics applications. Two hand tracking systems are investigated: 3Gear Systems interface with the Microsoft Kinect^TM sensor, and the Leap Motion sensor system. This paper reports an experimental evaluation and comparison of the two systems range, static positioning error, trajectory accuracy of single finger and hand motions, and latency. Latency and trajectory accuracy were found superior using the Leap system. Kinect^TM/3Gear was found superior when larger range and gesture control are necessary. 3Gear was used in a simulated surgical positioning task and demonstrated an average translational accuracy of 6.2mm. Given the data we have collected, we conclude that neither system, at present, possesses the high level of accuracy and robustness over the required range that would be a prerequisite for use as a medical robotics master.