I was thinking about how to implement pressure sensors on the end of the prototype robot continuum arm that is in progress. I wanted to measure the tension of the tendons, and placing a sensor on the end seemed to be a logical solution, but a tricky thing to do.

I did a search on how cable tension is measured, and I put together an inline module that should fit the bill nicely. There may be something like this out there, but at the time of design it wasn't a copy of anything but just using the idea of inline measurement, and this should hopefully be a cool useful solution.

Tendon tension measurement should be pretty useful for the control system software.

Features

• Inline tension measurement for tendon-driven systems
• Compact and lightweight design for minimal impact on system dynamics
• Designed specifically for continuum robot arm applications

Design Highlights

• Application: Continuum robot arm tendon tension measurement
• Installation: Inline with tendon routing
• Integration: Designed for seamless addition to existing systems