A miniaturised force-torque sensor with six degrees of freedom for dental measurements.

Force-torque sensor systems capable of simultaneously measuring all six spatial degrees of freedom on solid bodies are not very widespread in the medical field, particularly because of the hitherto unacceptably large external dimensions. A sensor based on the strain gauge technique has been developed with a diameter of only 32.5 mm and height of 29 mm. The miniaturised supporting framework for the strain gauges has been cast in a single piece from a wax-plastic model by the one-way mould principle. A sensitivity of 10 mN with an upper limit of 50 N is attained.