hi all i’m new here to the forum and relatively new to lab auto. i’m working with @luisvillaautomata on a hardware hack end of june in sf for people to build on opentrons ot-2, a mobile plate handler, and a robotic microscope. we did one hack in feb and it was fun enough to do again.
one challenge we faced was helping software developers and hardware engineers get started. for those not familiar with lab auto, it felt like acronym soup mixed with context overload.
to help solve that problem, we’re assembling 2-3hr intro guides of some of the top resources to help people go 0 to 1 pre-hack.
on the structure (what should be included or changed for fundamental knowledge)
if you have other public links or resources that would reccomend
^ this is a community resource that we’re openly sharing as we want to help more people explore and build in the lab auto space. feel free to share if you think it’s helpful.
Great work, I would add that Tecan also sells the Freedom EVO, not just the Fluent. Also, Dynamic Devices Lynx is probably at the level of popularity that would warrant inclusion in this guide.
@michaelraspuzzi if you want to put in a link at the bottom for how ADVANCED this can look in a more industrial environment (& this they will absolutely not teach you any of this at hyper expensive training sessions from manufacturers.)
Just some context, LADS OPC UA is from the OPC Foundation and ergo newer to the scene than SiLA2. The first link shows SiLA2 - BioSero orchestration capabilities. The second link shows a SiLA-ROS (Robot Operating System) bridge which further highlights the flexibility of these communication standards.
This is how I build drivers/think about building labs.
In addition to adding Dynamic Devices to the list, another minor discrepency
I’m not sure if this can be changed easily - and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the image of the Tier 4 instrument a Biomek (NX, maybe?), which is excluded from that tier of liquid handlers? Personally I’d add biomek to Tier3/4 with the advent of i-line platforms - but I’m not complaining, this is still a phenomenal resource and tons of good work.
you are right, that was one of the worst links to mix up initially! had a design module that copied over and mixed up a few links. they are fixed now
and good call on the image, thanks for the feedback! one of the constraints i gave myself to make this was make no new visual assets, so i pulled from what already exists.
it’s not 100%, and if you have a better list or reference that could be placed here to introduce the spectrum of liquid handlers, please do send along. open to updating it!
I think the push for communication standards in lab will inherently look like something akin to OPC UA / SiLA2 / ROS and it’s important to highlight the flexibility of these standards so we can ALL (as a collective) get exposed to a better way of living hah.
Very excited about the potential of OPC UA for lab automation. I got my start in industrial automation, and the idea of PLCs and lab automation equipment both talking to SCADA or similar supervisory systems over OPC UA is amazing.
i’m new here to the forum and relatively new to lab auto. i’m working with @luisvillaautomata on a hardware hack end of june in sf for people to build on opentrons ot-2, a mobile plate handler, and a robotic microscope. we did one hack in feb and it was fun enough to do again.
updated
