Hardware

6-Axis Force-Torque Sensor

A 6-axis force-torque sensor is a transducer, typically mounted between a robot's wrist and its end effector, that measures the full contact wrench: three orthogonal force components and three torque components. Most designs read strain gauges or capacitive elements on an elastic structure and require bias compensation for the payload's gravity. The measurements drive impedance and admittance control, insertion and polishing tasks, and collision detection.

Why it matters for physical AI

Contact-rich assembly lives or dies on wrench feedback, and force-torque signals are increasingly recorded alongside images in demonstration datasets so learned policies can acquire force-aware, compliant behavior.