[JGurnow]

On our kicker's cam we don't use an encoder, we use a hall effect sensor.

How it works is you place two magnets on your robot in the cam at a certain point. When you see an edge that means you crossed over a magnet, depending on how you arrange your magnets. At the top of our cam is a flat region where it sits when the sensor reads it. When it goes over the edge you see the edge again and can recock it easily.

We are going to change to an encoder though, they aren't quadrature or magnetic, they are analog encoders. Essentially an infinite potentiometer. Its setup in a 1:1 ratio so the same value is always cocked. You still need to calibrate when replacing the encoder though.