Intuitive gaze-control of a robotized flexible endoscope

Flexible endoscopy is a routinely performed procedure that has predominantly remained unchanged for decades despite its many challenges. This paper introduces a novel, more intuitive and ergonomic platform that can be used with any flexible endoscope, allowing easier navigation and manipulation. A standard endoscope is robotized and a gaze control system based on eye-tracking is developed and implemented, allowing hands-free manipulation. The system characteristics and step response has been evaluated using visual servoing. Further, the robotized system has been compared with a manually controlled endoscope during a user study. The users (n=11) showed a preference for the gaze controlled endoscope and a lower task load when the task was performed with the gaze control. In addition, gaze control was related to a higher success rate and a lower time to perform the task. The results presented validate the system's technical performance and demonstrate the intuitiveness of hands-free gaze control in flexible endoscopy