AbstractThe problem of part mating and assembly with close tolerances has been addressed in the past by active or passive compliance and by force/position control. With ambient sensor and transmission noise and with imprecise measurements it is often difficult to attain high precision in manipulator positioning. In this article, a position‐sensing wrist using simple strain gauges is described. A fuzzy logic algorithm to ascertain the positional error during an unsuccessful assembly attempt is explained. The results obtained by using this wrist and the fuzzy logic algorithm to reposition a manipulator for precision assembly are presented and discussed. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.