Computer Lab 6: Automating Scientific Discovery

Welcome to the practical session of Module 6, created by lecturer Gabriel Reder, and has been further modified by Dr. Wei Ouyang, along with teaching assistants Songtao Cheng and Nils Mechtel. In this lab, you’ll learn some useful skills from the following Google Colab notebooks.

Notebook: Automating Scientific Discovery.

Access will only be granted after the computer lab session begins.

After opening the notebooks in Google Colab, save a personal copy to your Google Drive: File > Save a copy in Drive. You’ll run and complete your tasks in this copy.

Objective

In this lab, you will:

  • Familiarize yourself with the Opentrons Python API and write scripts to execute robotic protocols.

  • Simulate a robotic protocol to understand how tasks are automated in the lab without physically interacting with the robot.

  • Investigate and document the functionality of robotic lab protocols, hardware modules, and labware used in automation.

Important Notes

  • Set Runtime to CPU: You can choose your runtime is set to CPU: Runtime > Change runtime type > Hardware accelerator.

  • Hands-On Learning: This lab emphasizes active participation. You’ll need to carefully study and complete the code snippets provided in the notebooks. Full solutions are not provided, so this is your chance to deepen your understanding.

  • Time Management: It’s OK to upload your work without finishing all tasks during the computer lab. Focus on learning from the exercises you complete, as the primary goal is to understand the key concepts as you work through the notebooks.

Submission Instructions

After completing the notebooks exercises:

1. Export your notebooks from Google Colab:

   - File > Download > Download .ipynb

2. Submit the downloaded files using the provided submission form.

Submission Deadline

You should submit your work by the end of the computer lab session. If you cannot finish it, you can submit it within 24 hours after the lab session ends. So the deadline is Thursday, 03.10.2024, at 17:00 CEST.

If you cannot attend the lab session, you will need to get an approval and also submit your work within 24 hours after the lab session ends.

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