The ActaIntense is the tensilometer, which we have built in our department.
As the research of such topics as shrinkage stress, adhesive strength development, under all sorts off circumstances (types of light curing units, cement gaps, bulk restorations etc.) became more and more refined, we ran into the limitations of our Hounsfield and Instron tensilometers.
Looking at the costs of a tensilometer that would meet our requirements, we decided to design and build a tensilometer ourselves. 
As compared to the other tensilometers, the ActaIntense was designed to perform (much) better in the following aspects. 

• Faster Response
• Less Vertical Clearance
• Structural Rigidity

Here is an experiment that only be done on the ActaIntense.

Faster response

The measurement of the development of the shrinkage stress versus time with a light curing material, is considered a simple experiment right now. 
In such a test, the stress suddenly starts to develop when the curing light is switched on, reaches considerable values within a few seconds and the Hounsfield and the Instron do not always respond fast enough to maintain hindered shrinkage conditions during the important early stage of the curing.

Less Vertical Clearance (play)

As the material gradually transforms from a paste into a solid, the development of shrinkage stress depends on the intricate interaction of changing material properties such as viscosity and elasticity. 
With the ActaIntense these properties can be monitored by applying an extremely small vertical oscillating motion. In such an experiment, the cross head moves up and down for example once a second with an amplitude of only say 0.3 micrometers (about 0.01 mils). The Hounsfield and the Instron are not suitable for these experiments, because their mechanical drive systems have far too much vertical clearance for the oscillating motions; when the direction of the cross head motion reverses, the motor first has to make quite a few turns, before the cross head picks up the reversal. 
We didn't think it was possible, but in the ActaIntense there doesn't seem to be any vertical clearance. Although at the point where the direction reverses, the motor drives the cross head less directly, the cross head always moves when the motor moves.

Structural Rigidity

Hooke's law (about springs) tells us that if a force is exerted on an object, the object will give way to some extent. This is visibly true for a rubber band, which is stretched, it is less visibly true for a composite sample, which yields a few micrometers when it is loaded with many Newtons, but it is also true for the tensilometer itself.
The consequence is that even when the cross head is blocked, the motor still has to make a few turns, to increase the force from zero to, say 1000 Newtons. The ActaIntense takes about one motor turn to increase to this load. The other tensilometers take about ten turns, which makes these extra slow when the load changes.