Load Cells

A load cell is a specialized force sensor that is designed to measure a specific type of force acting upon it.

There are load cells to measure compression, tension and shear forces. For highly custom projects, you can attach tiny strain gauges to a material to measure specific forces acting on that member.

Load cells and strain gauges tend to output very low voltages, so most of them must be connected to a wheatstone bridge interface in order to be measured accurately.