VWorks: Anyway to reuse a plate from a storage device?

Agilent
6

Another possibility is to use this trick:

  1. first create a “location group” (in my case it is called “reservoirA”)

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  1. In the “unload” task of your protocol add this code (in the code below I am supposed to reuse my “reservoirA” location 4 times):
unloadArr = [];
if (plate.instance === 1) {
   for (i=0; i<4; i++) unloadArr.push("reservoirA");
   task.unloadFrom = unloadArr;
}
  1. Check this box in the load task:

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  1. check this box in the protocol options:

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  1. Run your protocol (just a test protocol):

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  1. The Gantt chart shows that 4 plates were unloaded always from the same slot/cassette and placed back:

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The bottom line is: you can use the same location on the Minihub multiple times if you populate task.unloadFrom with an array containing as many “location group” names as many unload/load instances you need to generate.

Finally, I would like to share a few lines from an old “PlateHub” manual which also apply to the MiniHub:

  • task.unloadfrom for Unload task: it expects an array of strings of either location group or plate group.
    e.g. task.unloadfrom = [“Cassette1”, “PlateGroup1”]

  • task.loadintoByLocation for Load task: it expects an array of strings of location group.
    e.g. task.loadintoByLocation = [“Cassette1”, “Cassette2”]

  • task.loadintoByGroup for Load task: it expects an array of strings of plate group.
    e.g. task.loadintoByGroup = [“PlateGroup1”, “PlateGroup2”]

Note: task.unloadfrom, task.loadintoByLocation, and task.loadintoByGroup should only be called once for the first plate in the batch because these functions re-construct the plate groups internally, and reset the plate pointer to the first plate.
e,g. if (plate.instance === 1) task.unloadfrom = [“Cassette1”];

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