By Mahmood Samiee, Senior Director Advanced Manufacturing & Controls Engineering
When people talk about the future of robotics, the conversation often focuses on what robots can do. We see surgical robots assisting physicians, automated systems helping move products through warehouses, and humanoid robots beginning to take shape in laboratories and pilot environments around the world.
Behind every one of those innovations is a critical requirement: The ability to sense force accurately.
That capability starts with a technology many people have never heard of: The silicon strain gage.
Silicon strain gages are highly sensitive sensing elements that convert mechanical strain into measurable electrical signals. Compared with conventional foil strain gages, they provide substantially higher sensitivity, exceptional signal quality, and repeatable performance. Those advantages make them ideal for applications where precision matters most.
The origins of this technology date back to the early space program, when engineers needed reliable ways to monitor structural stresses under extreme conditions. Decades later, the technology continues to solve measurement challenges across industries.
Today, silicon strain gages support applications ranging from industrial weighing systems and pressure measurement solutions to advanced robotic systems. They also serve as the foundation of our high-performance force and torque sensors that help robots understand how they interact with their environment.
That capability is becoming increasingly important as robotics evolves.
Whether a robot is assembling electronics, handling industrial components, or assisting with a surgical procedure, it must understand how much force it is applying. Too little force may prevent a task from being completed. Too much force can reduce accuracy or create safety concerns. Force and torque sensing provides the feedback needed to make intelligent decisions in real time.
Equally important is the expertise required to manufacture these technologies.
Producing high-performance silicon strain gages is not simply a matter of making components smaller. It requires tightly controlled manufacturing processes, rigorous testing, and highly skilled operators capable of working with microscopic features under high magnification. Those capabilities have been developed and refined through decades of experience.
Looking ahead, the demand for force sensing is expected to grow significantly. Trends such as collaborative robots, warehouse automation, surgical robotics, and humanoid robotics all depend on increasingly advanced sensing capabilities. As these technologies become more widespread, manufacturers face a new challenge: Delivering high levels of precision while scaling production to meet future demand.
We continue to invest in both innovation and operational excellence to address that challenge. By improving manufacturing processes and increasing production capacity, we are helping make advanced force sensing available for the next generation of robotic systems.
Most people will never see a silicon strain gage but they will experience its impact every time a robot performs a delicate task with precision, every time automation improves efficiency, and every time advanced technologies interact safely with the world around them.
Sometimes the innovations that change industries are the ones hidden from view.