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Opentrons OT-2

Description

The opentrons OT-2 is a liquid handling pipetting robot, currently used in sample preparation.

Mounted Pipettes

  • Radboud University's Big Lebowski OT-2
  • Left: P20, single channel, GEN2
  • Right: P1000, single channel, GEN2

Hardware Setup

Follow the calibration setup, either in the user manual or on Youtube.

Software Setup

prerequisites

The Opentrons OT-2 can follow a simple python protocol, using Opentrons' API. This module contains a python framework, which simplifies the protocol formulation. This module can be installed via the pip installer:

pip install opentrons

To make a protocol file, Python 3 and a text editor of choice is required. Furthermore, the opentron app is recommended to run the protocol file.

simple protocol

A detailed tutorial can be found here. A simple example of a protocol could be this python file transfer-liquid.py:

from opentrons import protocol_api
metadata = {
    "protocolName": "Short Tutorial",
    "description": "A very simple protocol",
    "author": "Somebody",
}
requirements = {"robotType": "OT-2", "apiLevel": "2.16"}

def run(protocol: protocol_api.ProtocolContext):
    # load labware
    tips = protocol.load_labware("opentrons_96_tiprack_300ul", 1)
    reservoir = protocol.load_labware("nest_12_reservoir_15ml", 2)
    plate = protocol.load_labware("nest_96_wellplate_200ul_flat", 3)

    # load instruments
    right_pipette = protocol.load_instrument("p1000_single_gen2", "right", tip_racks=[tips])

    # transfer 200 uL from reservoir A1 to plate A1
    right_pipette.transfer(200, reservoir["A1"], plate["A1"])

simulate protocol

To check this protocol, run in the command line the following command:

opentrons_simulate transfer-liquid.py

if custom labware is used, the path to the custom labware must be given (created via the opentron app):

opentrons_simulate transfer-liquid.py -L PATH_TO_CUSTOM_LABWARE

run protocol on OT-2

To run the protocol on the OT-2, just simply import in the Opentrons app on a computer connected to the robot and follow the prompts. The protocol should run if the simulation was succesfull, with two exceptions:

  1. custom labware is missing still defition in the Opentrons app;
  2. an excel sheet is imported in the simulation, but fails in the run.