The removable shaft design of ORCA motors allows for greater flexibility and adaptability in your designs. While ORCA motors are fully integrated, including position sensing, the user must trigger the Auto Zero function to ensure absolute position sensing on boot. 

What is Auto Zeroing?

The Auto Zeroing function moves the motor’s shaft at a constant speed until it reaches a hard stop, defining that point as zero position. The Auto Zeroing function can be used to establish a consistent position reference every time. You can Auto Zero your ORCA using IrisControls our in-house GUI, or serial controls. In this tutorial we are using IrisControls. 

Follow Along with Written Instructions

• The speed, and maximum force applied to the hard stop are both configurable. An example hard stop can be the provided shaft collars. Attach the shaft so that it is contacting the motor body at the desired maximum extension. Use caution when removing the shaft as it contains high-powered magnets. 

• The Auto Zeroing function will always move the shaft in the negative direction. To switch the direction, the Invert Position setting must be toggled.

• Auto Zeroing can be configured to run when the motor boots up. This is helpful if the position of the shaft cannot be guaranteed upon startup. 

• After completing Auto Zeroing, the motor will enter a configurable mode of operation. With haptic and kinematic modes, the motor can operate completely headlessly.