There is a box of shame in our workshop that contains a number of more or less (but mostly less) successful attempts at building a decent force sensor.
We never throw away anything because of one single reason. The funniest thing in the world is seeing how insanely stupid your former self was. But the fun gets bitter very soon because everybody suddenly realizes how stupid we are to our future selves. How cruel is this!
Well, The Box Of Shame contains some very clever attempts at using strain gauges and a few stupid ones as well, a few printed circuit boards with specialized measuring microcontrollers, some wannabe geometry tricks, a lot of laser cut steel and a few round pieces turned on a manual lathe, all in all, around 45 prototypes so far. We will definitely add a few pieces, but sooner or later, The Box of Shame will be closed and we will proudly present our first… working piece!
