Development and Characterization of a Versatile, Force-Range Adjustable, Low-Cost, Tri-Axial Force Sensor

Three-axial force sensors enable quantification of 3D interaction forces (one normal and two shear components), which appear when a sensor gets in physical contact with an object. Typically, these sensors are used in applications such as minimal-invasive palpation, closed-loop force control, or safety, where the information on quantified interaction forces bring beneficial information to a human or a system. However, general-purpose industrial tri-axial force sensors may be costly (i.e. range of several hundred or thousand CHF). To overcome this drawback, we developed a tri-axial force sensor that costs more than ten times less compared with the commercially available sensors of similar size and specifications.