Brainwashing an OT2 - Looking for Volunteers

Projects
1

Hey everyone!

I’ve been wanting to hack an OpenTrons OT2 [sic] robot for a while.

The idea is to get rid of all its software and firmware, bit by bit, replacing it with the ones running on our Pipettin’ bot: Technical Overview - OLA is Open Lab Automata

I believe that it can be done, but don’t have one, so I’m looking for volunteers. :slight_smile:

The ideal person would be someone with a dark-corner, dust-collecting machine, some time, and basic hacking wisdom, and interest in the project of course.

I’m not sure if there will be a massive and immediate gain for the person doing this, other than having fun and tearing down a mostly proprietary machine.

The long-term project is to convert the aging OT2s into multi-purpose, tool-changing machines, that can be operated independently with alternative free software.

The overall process would involve:

  • Replace the firmware on the OT2’s Smoothie board with Klipper.
  • Install and calibrate Pipettin’s software stack (web UI, controller module, etc.).
    • This might be done on a separate Linux PC or on the robot’s Raspberry Pi.
  • Calibrate stuff.
  • Run some protocols.

Depending on your enthusiasm and skill, this can be a slow or fast project, and I would love to guide (and troubleshoot) someone through it.

I know @derekja is interested, but I thought I’d post here as well. Maybe @beniroquai or others? :slight_smile:

Best to all of you, and happy full sun turn! :sun_with_face:+1

4 Likes
2

Hi,

I don’t think that anybody that keeps an Opentrons in a dark corner will have hacking inclinations or be interested in tinkering with it.

There is a software that is meant to be machine agnostic and was created by a guy at MIT to support both Opentrons and Hamilton etc robots.
I used that for my inoculating robot (see news on specyal.com and you’ll find the pointer to the other software too).

There is a chance I might get an Opentrons in the future. What experience you have with Klipper? Would not a CNC board and open software be more appropriate?

Cheers,
Adrian

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Hi Adrian! Thanks for your input.

I see what you mean, but I have a bunch of things collecting dust that I’d love to tinker with just waiting for an excuse. :slight_smile:

What do you mean? Klipper is open, and the Smoothieboard is a CNC board.

I maintain a Klipper fork with some extra features I found useful. I don’t recommend commiting to it though, I just happened to start with that instead of other hardware-agnostic firmwares.

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I’m always interested in knowledgeable collaborators as long as it’s a reciprocal advantage.

5

Interesting idea. I must admit that the software of the opentrons is pretty well done. I don’t see huge benefit to customize it. What would be the benefit? It’s open-source enough to be modified, no?

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It seems so but I haven’t been able to use it.

In essence, OT’s stack is not useful beyond OT’s robot.

GOSH had actually awarded funds to adapt the OT2’s software to other robots, but OT was not interested in helping and it turned out too convoluted internally to adapt on our own (with the given resources). I can elaborate on this and link to the relevant conversations.

So the answer is meh.

Hacking is the main goal here :slight_smile: utility is up to you. What would you do with your nOT2 if wasn’t tied to its software?