Design and Manufacturing of an Ultra-Low-Cost Custom Torque Sensor for Robotics

This article describes a new, very low-cost torque sensor. It was designed to obtain a geometric shape suitable for very affordable manufacturing by machining. The torque sensor was developed under the principle of measurement by strain gauges. It has been designed in order to make manufacturing operations as simple as possible. Optimization was achieved through finite element analysis. Three test sensors for 1, 5, and 20 Nm were designed and machined. Calibration of the three sensors has been carried out obtaining excellent results. An analysis of the dimensional quality of the product and associated costs demonstrates that manufacturing is possible with very simple machining operations, standard tools, and economic equipment.