Bug(?) of the STAR MPH96 Tool Library

Hello everyone,

I am working with a protocol that uses the STAR MPH96 Tool library back to back. See below for the method:

The protocol works fine except when it needs to restock tips for the second PickUpTips function (picking up tips using the bottom of the MPH for rows)

Apparently, when the library is automatically restocking the tips (without utilizing the CleanUpTip function), it doesn’t offset the head when picking up the tips that are located at the bottom of the tip support. Instead, what happens is that the head simply picks up the tips from the tip support (without offsetting) and places the tips at the bottom of the tip rack.

This is a problem since the robot thinks that the tips were placed on the top of the tip rack instead. Because of this, this led to tips being collided when the robot refused to offset when transferring more tips back from the tip support.

This isn’t a problem if the TipPickUp function was set to using the top of the MPH, since the tips are already at the top, but that is not an option for this protocol.

I could insert a CleanUpTip function between the first and second TipPickUp function, but that would waste time for cases when there are already enough rows of tips on the tip support.

Is there a way around this weird bug I found?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Nat

1 Like

Hi @Nat ,

Looks like you found a very specific bug! Congrats! I was able to reproduce the issue and correct it. A new link to STAR Tools has been created and can be downloaded below:

STAR Tools Demo 240507

To properly upgrade STAR Tools, I recommend either deleting or changing the name of the folder “C:\Program Files (x86)\HAMILTON\Library\STAR Tools” prior to importing. When importing, use recovery mode and select no to all. Make sure any method that uses STAR Tools is not open when importing as well. After the import is done, you should be able to run the method with the updates ready to go.

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Hi @BrandonBare_Hamilton

Thank you so much! Glad to hear that it was a bug that was fixed in the new version : )

1 Like