HighRes LidValet

The HighRes Biosolutions LidValet is a benchtop delidder. Each of its nests (the controller calls them hotels) holds a vacuum suction cup above a plate position: a mover presents a lidded plate to a nest, the LidValet lifts the lid off into the cup and holds it there, and later lowers it back onto the plate.

Communication	TCP socket
Default address	192.168.127.60:1000 (printed on the back of the device)
Protocol	newline-terminated ASCII, ACK! / OK! / ERROR!
Nests	read from the device (ACTIVE_HOTELS)
Nest states	open, has_lid, busy, error, unknown

OEM link

Physical setup

The LidValet is a network device: connect it to the host with an Ethernet cable, either directly or through a switch. It does not run a DHCP client, so give the host an address on the device’s subnet, for example:

sudo ip addr add 192.168.127.1/24 dev <interface>

The address on the label is the one to talk to. A unit that has been sitting powered but idle can hold link while answering nothing at all — if it is silent, power-cycle it and it will announce itself on boot.

Connect

setup() opens the socket, reads the nest count off the device, refuses to start if a lid is stuck in a suction cup, and resets every nest. Pass host and port for your machine — the nest count is not something you configure, it comes from the device itself.

from pylabrobot.high_res import HighResLidValet

valet = HighResLidValet(host="192.168.127.60", port=1000)
await valet.setup()

print(valet.num_nests)

Nest state

request_state() returns one nest’s state; request_all_states() returns every nest in a single round trip. request_has_lid() and request_is_busy() are convenience wrappers.

A nest reports error when its last operation failed — it stays that way until the nest is reset.

print(await valet.request_state(1))
print(await valet.request_all_states())

Delid a plate

With a lidded plate on a nest, delid() lifts the lid into that nest’s suction cup. The cup must be empty; the call raises if it is already holding a lid or if the nest is busy.

await valet.delid(nest=1)

Re-lid the plate

lid() lowers the held lid back onto the plate. The cup must be holding a lid. It retries a few times to ride out a transient busy state, matching the device server’s own behaviour.

await valet.lid(nest=1)

Reset

reset() homes a nest and clears its error state. Called with no argument it resets every nest in one command, which is also what setup() does.

await valet.reset(nest=1)
await valet.reset()

Homing and lift motion

home() homes the whole system. wave() drops and raises the lifts a given number of times — useful for confirming the machine is alive and that the pneumatics are connected. Both block until the motion is finished.

await valet.home()
await valet.wave(cycles=3)

Vacuum and purge

The suction cups are driven by solenoid outputs, which delid() and lid() operate for you. set_vacuum() and set_purge() drive them directly, which is mainly useful when diagnosing a cup that will not pick up.

These return immediately: the controller switches the output and does not wait, and on a machine with no vacuum sensor fitted it cannot confirm suction was achieved.

await valet.set_vacuum(nest=1, on=True)
await valet.set_vacuum(nest=1, on=False)

Diagnostics

The controller keeps an error stack and a command history, and reports its own versions. When something fails, request_errors() is the first place to look — the device’s own message is more specific than the exception text.

print(await valet.request_version())
print(await valet.request_errors(5))

Settings

The device exposes its full calibration and configuration. request_settings() returns it as a typed, frozen object, one attribute per device setting.

settings = await valet.request_settings()
print(settings.serial_number, settings.active_hotels)

Disconnect

stop() asks the server to drop this client and then closes the socket, so the controller frees the connection slot rather than waiting for it to time out.

await valet.stop()