Design and Implementation of a Low-Cost Torque Sensor for Manipulators

Abstract

Humanoid and collaborative robots find their application in numerous sectors, such as automotive, electrical and mechanical engineering, not excluding the field of bioengineering. They replace repetitive and often monotonous human activity. As the trend nowadays is for continuous optimization of production processes, their advantage is easy relocation and operative application to new tasks, which allows the automation of practically all manual work. A common feature of manipulators is the control of the positioning of the actuators, primarily by adjusting the parameters of the drive units. Feedback is often implemented through various sensors that provide real-time information. However, most of the sensors in use do not provide information that would allow obtaining data on the history of the operating load in order to assess the further safe and reliable operation of the mechanical parts. This paper presents a low-cost torque sensor that was proposed by modifying the design of an existing part. The torque sensor was developed on the principle of strain gauge measurement. The results of strain–stress analysis obtained by numerical modelling were experimentally validated under static and dynamic loading. Practical application is mainly the development and long-term testing of prototypes of various types of manipulators and collaborative robots, where high accuracy and repeatability of positioning are essential.