Byonoy Absorbance 96

The Absorbance 96 Automate (A96A) is a USB-HID plate reader from Byonoy that measures absorbance across a 96-well plate in a single flash.

The hardware consists of three physical parts: a base unit (holds the plate), an illumination unit (light source, sits on top during measurement), and an optional SBS adapter for standard footprint integration. PLR models all three as resources so a robotic arm can move the illumination unit on and off the base.

• Communication: USB HID (VID 0x16D0 / PID 0x1199)

• Communication level: Firmware

Setup

Use byonoy_a96a to create the full setup (detection unit + illumination unit). The detection unit is both a Resource (base with plate holder) and a Device (drives the backend over USB HID).

from pylabrobot.byonoy import byonoy_a96a

reader, illumination_unit = byonoy_a96a(name="a96a")
await reader.setup()

During setup(), the backend opens the USB HID connection and runs an initialization measurement to calibrate the sensor.

Absorbance

Before reading, assign a plate to the base unit’s plate holder and make sure the illumination unit is removed from the base (the interlock will raise an error otherwise).

from pylabrobot.resources import Cor_96_wellplate_360ul_Fb

# Remove the illumination unit from the base so the plate can be loaded
reader.illumination_unit_holder.unassign_child_resource(illumination_unit)

plate = Cor_96_wellplate_360ul_Fb(name="plate")
reader.plate_holder.assign_child_resource(plate)

Read absorbance at a single wavelength. The wavelength must be one of the device’s available wavelengths (queried automatically during setup()).

results = await reader.absorbance.read_absorbance(plate, wavelength=450)

You can check which wavelengths are available on your unit:

print(reader.driver.available_wavelengths)

Resource layout

The Absorbance 96 has an interlock: you cannot assign a plate to the base while the illumination unit is on top. In an automated workcell, use a robotic arm to move the illumination unit to a parking base before loading the plate.

ByonoyAbsorbance96 (base + device)
 +-- plate_holder              (assign plates here)
 +-- illumination_unit_holder  (illumination unit sits here during measurement)

A separate byonoy_a96a_parking_unit can be used as a second base (no backend) where the illumination unit rests while plates are swapped.

Teardown

await reader.stop()