My idea for the final project is to make a structure that can sense loads in different elements by use of strategically-placed strain guages. For my senior semester capstone class as an undergraduate, we made structures which we tested on a load-sensing device. We rated the structures on maximum load carried, displacement, and weight. I would like to design a mechanism that can do this easily for individual elements on the structure with strain guages mounted on these elements.
I plan on doing this by writing a script which takes the strain in the element to deduce the load in it. Below is an example of what the structure could look like.