Opentrons Hacks

Opentrons
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I know people have hacked their Opentrons robots in mind-blowingly creative ways. What are the coolest hacks that you have created or seen? Software and hardware modifications are all welcome.

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This colony picking OT-2 is an oldie but one of my favorites. From iGem in 2019, features a 3d printed light box module and an integrated camera onto the pipette gantry.

Takes a picture of the colonies and decides which ones to pick, grab them and transfers to a plate.

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The 2019 Marburg project is also a great resource for 3D-printable labware adaptors!

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I had to go back and find it, didn’t even realize there were so many adapters! https://2019.igem.org/Team:Marburg/Hardware

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Some years ago I was trying to get the Opentrons to move smoothly in 3 dimensions for a bio-printing application. I figured it should be possible because the driver is a 3D printer board, which can run GCODE, and GCODE is designed to work with CNC machines generally. This code worked, with the one caveat that I had set the current too high for my pipette, so I actually misaligned the shaft inside and it would no longer home.

So that was bad. Set the current correctly for each motor.

Trying to implement this with the latest update, I realized that anything sent to the motor controller has to be done with an async function, so there’s an extra layer to add in. If someone gets it going on the latest version, I’d love to hear about it!

from opentrons.drivers.smoothie_drivers.driver_3_0 import GCODE, _command_builder
metadata = {"apiLevel": "2.9"}

def run(protocol):
    # Labware Setup
    command = _command_builder()
    command.add_gcode(
        gcode=GCODE.SET_CURRENT
    ).add_float(
        prefix="A", value=0.1, precision=None
    ).add_float(
        prefix="B", value=1.0, precision=None
    ).add_float(
        prefix="C", value=0.05, precision=None
    ).add_float(
        prefix="X", value=0.3, precision=None
    ).add_float(
        prefix="Y", value=0.3, precision=None
    ).add_float(
        prefix="Z", value=0.2, precision=None
    ).add_float(
        prefix="P", value=0.005, precision=None
    ).add_gcode(
        gcode=GCODE.MOVE
    ).add_float(
        prefix="B", value=-85.0, precision=None
    )
    protocol.comment(command.build())
    if not protocol.is_simulating:
        protocol._hw_manager.hardware._backend._smoothie_driver._send_command(command)
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6

Oh also I made an art robot: BioArtBot

If you have an OT2 and want help doing it yourself, shoot me an email! tim@bioartbot.org

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BioArtBot is amazing!! And incredibly well documented. Thanks for sharing!

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Hey Everyone
wanted to ask about a specific Opentrons need,
i found the hack to run an audio file from the Raspberry Pi in the Ot2 - the “speaker-test.mp3” is cool
but i was wanting to use a file with less Celine Dion, and more of an actual bell alert!
can anyone direct me to how to upload specific mp3 files to the OT2 ?

2 Likes