A brake system including a brake pad shaped and located to apply pressure
to a brake rotor and an actuator shaped and located to apply pressure to
the brake pad to cause the brake pad to apply pressure to the rotor. The
system further includes a sensor material which varies in resistance when
the actuator applies pressure to the brake pad, wherein the sensor
material include an electrically insulating material with electrically
conductive particles distributed therein. The system further includes a
controller operatively coupled to the sensor material to detect a change
in resistance of the sensor material.