An apparatus for lifting a load on an automated lifting cart, including a lifting surface vertically movable relative to the lifting cart, two pairs of cams positioned underneath the lifting surface having cam profiles shaped to lift the lifting surface upon rotation of the cams, a pair of encoders reading a rotation property of each pair of cams, and a controller configured to control movement of the pairs of cams by synchronizing the rotation properties of the pairs of cams by matching output from the encoders. Additionally, methods of lifting a load using an automated lifting cart including cams with a movement profile and a load profile, and methods of synchronizing drive shafts in a lifting cart using torque current measurements sent from a lead motor to a lag motor.