An illustrative wire processing machine includes at least one blade configured for at least one of cutting a conductor or at least piercing an insulation layer on the conductor. At least one gripper assembly includes a gripper configured to at least temporarily grasp a portion of a conductor during a wire processing operation. A generator, which is part of the gripper assembly, is configured to radiate a field toward a conductor. The gripper assembly also includes a detector that is configured to detect at least some of the field propagated along the conductor. A processor is configured to determine when a change in the propagated field detected by the detector indicates contact between a conductor and the blade.