Design and Testing of a Low-Cost Force Sensor for a Small Robotic Manipulator

This thesis details the process of developing a force feedback system for a small robotic manipulator in order to prevent damage to manipulators and the objects they are grasping, which is a desired feature in many autonomous robots. This includes the research, design, fabrication, and testing of a custom force-sensing resistor and a custom set of jaws to implement the feedback system on. In order to complete this project, extensive research went to designing and building test beds for the commercial and custom force sensors to determine if force values could even be obtained. Then the sensors were implemented on a manipulator and were evaluated for ease of use during assembly and testing, accuracy, and repeatability of results using a test bed designed during the course of this research. Afterwards the custom jaws were designed and fabricated based on problems encountered during testing with the initial set of jaws. The new jaws were then tested on the test bed with the sensors and the force feedback system was implemented on it. The overall system was then evaluated for any current limitations and improvements that could be made in the future to further develop this research and assist with its implementation on other robots. The results of this experiment show that a low-cost force sensor that is easy to mass produce can be implemented on an autonomous robot to add force feedback capabilities to it. It is hopeful that the results from the experiments conducted are implemented on robotic manipulators so the area of force sensing technologies research can be expanded upon and improved.