Opentrons OT-2 SiLA 2 Server

A SiLA 2 compliant controller for an Opentrons OT-2 Liquid Handler.
For a short function overview, and a description on how to use this software, take a look into the User Guide.

Requirements

1. Clone this git repository:

git clone https://github.com/FlorianBauer/ot2-controller
cd ot2-controller

2. (Optional) Set up and source a Python environment:

python3 -m venv ./venv
source venv/bin/activate

3. Install the Python package:

pip install .

4. Establish an SSH connection:
Before the actual installation, an SSH connection to the OT-2 device has to be established.
This requires to generate a pair of SSH keys, as well as the configuration of the OT-2 device
itself. To do this, please follow the steps described in this article:
SSH for OT-2

Installation

Use the generated key from step 4 and register it on the client.

sudo ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/ot2_ssh_key `whoami`@`hostname`
# e.g. sudo ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/ot2_ssh_key username@my_host.org

Ensure the packages openssh-server and openssh-client are installed. If not, install with
apt install openssh-server openssh-client.

Some additional useful links for troubleshooting:

Start the Server

Now execute python3 -m ot2_controller --ot2-ip-address IP with the corresponding OT-2 device IP (e.g. with
python3 -m ot2_controller --ot2-ip-address 169.254.92.42).

The SiLA server should now be available on localhost (127.0.0.1) on the port 50064.

Terminate the server by pressing the Enter key in the running terminal window.

A more detailed description can be found in the User Guide.

General Remarks

The SiLA server is currently only able to run on a host computer which has to be connected to
the OT-2 device via SSH. Since the OT-2 robot itself is also running a Linux OS on its
build-in Raspberry Pi 3+,
it may be possible to install the SiLA server and the corresponding
sila2 libraries on to the OT-2 directly.
Pull requests and instructions regarding this are gladly welcome.