Current trends in force/torque sensing

Force/torque sensors are now providing widespread practical solutions to manufacturing problems, particularly in the area of automated assembly. The current state of the industry is discussed, including the evolution of transducer and controller design, and the trend of robot manufacturers to integrate force/torque sensors into their robot systems thereby greatly improving cycle time and simplifying the application development task for the end-user. Current and future application areas are discussed as well as the benefits of force/torque sensing.