Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!tarbox
From: tarbox@troy.cat.rpi.edu (Glenn Tarbox)
Subject: Re: Commercially available 6-axis force/torque sensors
Message-ID: <nwhx5d=@rpi.edu>
Summary: California Cybernetics Force Torque Sensors
Keywords: Force/Torque sensors, off-the shelf, list of vendors
Nntp-Posting-Host: cat.rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
References: <Br6Ms0.K7r@me.utoronto.ca>
Distribution: comp
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1992 01:10:25 GMT
Lines: 24

We purchased a California Cybernetics 6-DOF force / torque sensor.  It's
really an excellent sensor due to it's innovative design and the
vendors are quite helpful.

The sensor uses a capacitor charge through the strain gages which is then
stored in other capacitors.  For some reason (I can't remember) this gives
the sensor excellent characteristics.  However, this also means that
you must cycle the sensor continuously at a high rate or the receiving
capacitors discharge can distort the readings.  The cycle rate should
be at least 1000 Hz but can be as high as 10,000 Hz according to the
literature.  Therefore, you really should have a separate dedicated 
processor to deal with the F/T sensor.

California Cybernetics sells a separate VME processor board which does
this for you, but that costs $2,000 extra.

-glenn


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glenn Tarbox - tarbox@cat.rpi.edu   (518) 276-8367
New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Automation and Robotics
CII-8015, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY  12180-3590
