Micro force sensor using strain gauge for articulated robot hand

Micro sized sensors are necessary for sensing the force on a robot finger for its skillful works. Because the sensor should be mounted in its narrow space, the top link of a finger itself is used as a structure of the sensor to detect the force by attaching strain gauges on it. The link is L-shaped for detecting 3 dimensional forces and its position on the surface of the top of a finger. Strain gauges were glued on the L shape link at its 6 positions to detect the bending moments of the link. The experimental results to detect 3 components of a force unknown showed the accuracy with 3% error. The design method, sensing theory and experimental study are reported. >