Optical Tweezers (OT) have the advantage of non-
contact interaction with target objects such as cells, overcoming
the pitfall of obstructive adhesion forces which are present in
contact micromanipulation. It is also feasible to manipulate a
number of small microparts simultaneously or 3D structures
by using multiple laser traps. These capabilities give rise to
the potential to develop a human-robot interface to facilitate
microassembly tasks. This paper presents a gaze contingent con-
trol framework and a method for 3D orientation estimation for
optical micromanipulation. The proposed strategy aims to use
OT as an interactive microassembly platform. The framework
comprises I) a strategy to recognize the operator’s intentions
in order to interactively place and reconfigure the optical traps
using the operator’s eye fixation point, II) haptic constraints
generated from the user’s eye gaze to assist positioning of the
assembled microparts and III) a method for 3D orientation
estimation. The performance of the proposed framework is
assessed through a set of experiments comparing it to the
standard OT user interface. Three-dimensional manipulation
and orientation estimation of a non-spherical microstructure
are also performed.