Sensor assemblies can be used to measure forces or torques acting on a mechanical instrument as a result of its interaction with an object. Many sensor assemblies include strain sensors configured to measure strains experienced by a sensor body of the sensor assembly as a result of such forces or torques. The measured strains can be used to resolve one or more components of such forces or torques.
However, many existing sensor assemblies are incapable of distinguishing between thermal strains resulting from temperature variations and mechanical strains resulting from forces or torques acting on the instrument. In such sensor assemblies, thermal strains may introduce significant error when measurements form strain sensors are used to determine components of forces or torques acting on the instrument.
In recent years some sensor assemblies have been developed that are capable of compensating for thermal strains resulting from steady state temperature variations. However, these sensor assemblies are often highly complex and require many components, resulting in a high cost of production. Furthermore, some of these sensors assemblies are limited to resolving only a subset of axial and lateral forces and axial torque independent of steady state temperature variations.