Hardware

Strain Gauge

A strain gauge is a sensor whose electrical resistance changes proportionally with the mechanical strain of the surface it is bonded to, typically read through a Wheatstone bridge circuit to resolve microvolt-scale signals. Arranged on elastic flexure structures, strain gauges form load cells and six-axis force-torque sensors; silicon strain-sensing variants achieve higher sensitivity. They are the dominant transduction principle behind force sensing in robot wrists, fingers, and joints.

Why it matters for physical AI

Force-aware manipulation — insertion, polishing, handovers — bottoms out in strain measurement; gauge quality, temperature drift, and calibration set the fidelity of every force control loop above them.