ORCA™ motors have five modes of operation: Sleep mode, Force Mode, Position Mode, Haptic Mode and Kinematic Mode. This Iris Tutorials will cover how to get started with the two force control modes: Force mode and Haptic mode. Please refer to the ORCA Series Motor Reference Manual to explore more modes of operation. Please note that Force Mode is meant to be used with a serial communication stream and cannot be entered directly through the IrisControls GUI. Haptic Mode however, is accessible through the IrisControls GUI.

Why Use Force Mode?

In both force control modes, the motor is commanded to output a desired force in newtons, regardless of shaft position. Force control can be more effective in systems where the amount of force applied is more important than the exact position, for example polishing and grinding, spring simulations, end of line manufacturing validation and medical rehabilitation devices.

Follow Along with Written Instructions

Haptic mode is a layer of control on top of regular force control. It offers easy to understand built-in effects, from springs to oscillators. To enter Haptic mode, select the Force / Haptics page in IrisControls. This page allows you to enable and configure the desired set of effects. For now, we’ll just try the spring effect on its own. Press the enable button to begin outputting force. The motor will produce more force the more it is compressed - just like a spring. Haptic mode is also fully controllable over Modbus. Try any combination of the various effects.

Force mode must be entered and controlled via Modbus commands. In this mode, the motor will simply try to output the force value written to the FORCE_CMD Modbus register. This is a more granular way to achieve specific force profiles. To get started with force control from a Windows or Linux device, try orcaSDK available for download on our downloads page. 

When using force producing modes via Modbus, the sensed force and current position can be monitored through the live plot on the Position / Kinematics page of IrisControls.

Communications must be made regularly over the Modbus interface to avoid a timeout error. In the event of a communications failure or other motor errors, the motor will cease all power draw and produce zero force output.