There is a strategic importance for the steel rolling industry to get a better understanding of the strip–roll interaction to improve roll-gap models, increase strip quality and decrease roll degradation. This requires roll-gap sensors able to measure this interaction under industrial rolling conditions and in real time in order to propose a feed-back control of process parameters. To reach these goals, this paper proposes a new roll-gap friction sensor based on an inverse method that interprets optical fiber Bragg gratings(FBG) strain measurements under the roll surface (fully embedded), which enables to evaluate contact stresses with very short computation times, compatible with real time interpretation. This elastic inverse method is analytical and relies on plane-strain and isothermal assumptions. The experimental apparatus is detailed, technical issues are clearly exposed as well as calibration procedures. Several pilot cold rolling tests have been performed at various rolling speeds and different strip thicknesses in order to demonstrate the industrial feasibility. Resulting evaluations of contact stresses are then compared with numerical simulations. Reasonable agreement is obtained for normal stress (i.e., pressure) but not for shear stress(only an order of magnitude is obtained).