Thermocouples

Thermocouples consist of a pair of wires of different metals

connected together at both ends and insulated but kept thermally
close to each other over their length.
When they encounter a temperature gradient form one end
to the other, an electrical current flows through the circuit due to
the Seebeck Effect.
If one of the wires is opened and the voltage between the
open ends is measured with a suitably high impedance
voltmeter, a voltage nearly equal to the average relative Seebeck
coefficient times the temperature difference between the hot and
cold ends will be measured.
A thermocouple is a temperature sensor that uses a junction
formed by dissimilar metals.
It is simply a pair of wires of different composition, joined
at one end.
The thermocouple produces a small voltage, also called the
thermocouple potential, roughly proportional to temperature.
The thermocouple potential is produced in part by a
junction effect, but mostly by the influence of a temperature
gradient on each wire, called the Peltier and Seebeck effects.
Unless otherwise indicated, all standard thermocouple
models and tables show voltages referenced to a cold junction at
zero degrees Centigrade, 0 °C.
For an overview of thermocouple types and their uses we
recommend the Wikipedia article on thermocouples.
 The Seebeck effect is a phenomenon in which a
temperature difference between two dissimilar electrical
conductors or semiconductors produces a voltage difference
between the two substances.
Peltier effect, the cooling of one junction and the heating of
the other when electric current is maintained in a circuit of
material consisting of two dissimilar conductors.
The effect is even stronger in circuits containing dissimilar
semiconductors.
In a circuit consisting of a battery joined by two pieces of
copper wire to a length of bismuth wire, a temperature rise
occurs at the junction where the current passes from copper to
bismuth, and a temperature drop occurs at the junction where the
current passes from bismuth to copper.
Need for sensing systems
Human operators are constantly receiving and acting upon
large amounts of sensory feedback.
It is via such sensory feedback that human operators are
able to make sense of their surroundings and perform both
simple and complex tasks.
It is also enables operators to make sense of uncertain
situations as they are encountered and adapt themselves
accordingly.
More than this the human operator is capable of combining
various types of sensory feedback to perform the most complex
of tasks.
 It may appear that if industrial robots are to be capable of
performing the same types of tasks without constant human
supervision, they too must be equipped with sensory feedback.
There are many reasons for employing sensory feedback in
robots. The first is to provide positional and velocity information
concerning the joint, arm and end effector status, position,
velocity and acceleration.
Usually this type of feedback is provided continuously and
becomes an integral part of the physical robot control system.
This identifies a category of sensors known as internal sensors.
Other reasons are to prevent damage to the robot itself, its
surroundings and human operators and to provide identification
and real time information indicating the presence of different
types of components and concerning the nature of tasks
performed.
These involves various sensory device to suit the
needs of the particular robot task being carried out and the
characteristics of the working environment.
They are collectively known as external sensors and are
interfaced to the robot control system via input/output facilities
by the robot control system hardware and software.
As the tasks to which industrial robots are applied become
more demanding, there is an increasing need for sensory
feedback.
Sensory feedback is needed whenever there is uncertainly
and unpredictability in the tasks being performed.
Five important char. Of any sensing device are
 1. Range: This refers to the minimum and maximum
change in input signal to which the sensor can respond.
The sensor should possess a wide operating range.
2. Response: The sensor should be capable of responding
to changes in the sensed variable in minimum time.
Ideally the response should be instantaneous.
3. Accuracy: the accuracy of the measurement should be as
high as possible. The output of the sensing device should
properly reflect the input quantity being measured or
sensed.
4. Sensitivity: It refers to the change in the output
exhibited by the sensor for a unit change in input. The
sensitivity should be as high as possible.
5. Linearity: The sensory device should exhibit the same
sensitivity over its entire operating range.
FORCE SENSORS:
The capacity to measure forces permits the robot to
perform a number of tasks like grasping parts of different sizes
in material handling, machine loading and assembly work
applying the appropriate level of force for the given part.
Force being a vector quantity must be specified both in
magnitude and direction.
Force sensing in robotics can be accomplished in several
ways.
A commonly used technique is wrist sensing, in which the
sensors are mounted between the tip of a robot arm and the end-
effector. Another technique is joint sensing, in which the sensors
measure the Cartesian components of force and torque acting on
a robot joints and adds them vectorically.
For joints driven by d.c joint motorts, sensing is done
simply by measuring the armature current for each of the joint
motors.
Finally, a third technique is to form an array of force
sensing elements so that the shape and other information about
the contact surface can be determined.