An isolated force/torque sensor assembly (10, 110, 210) for a force controlled robot (12) includes an end effector (22, 122, 222) for operatively attaching to an arm (14) of the force controlled robot (12), the end effector (22, 122, 222) having a gripping portion (36, 136, 236) adapted to be gripped by a hand of a user, and a force/torque sensor (42, 142, 242) adapted to be disposed between the gripping portion (36, 136, 236) and the arm (14) of the robot (12), the force/torque sensor (42, 142, 242) having a high force end effector interface (44, 144, 244) adapted to be attached to the arm (14) of the robot (12), a low force end effector interface (48, 148, 248) operatively attached to the gripping portion (36, 136, 236), and a transducer (45, 145, 245) disposed between the high force end effector interface (44, 144, 244) and the low force end effector interface (48, 148, 248) for reacting to loads applied to the low force end effector interface (48, 148, 248) for user controlled positioning of a surgical tool and for generating corresponding output signals, and wherein the transducer (45, 145, 245) is bypassed for high loads.
