Brooks PreciseFlex Integration
Drive your robot arm in Python, without writing GPL
Move the arm in Cartesian or joint space, blend waypoints into one path, grip plates with torque-limited jaws, and stream its position while you teach by hand.
- Supports
- PF400 models, standard and extended reach
- Connects over
- TCP/IP
- Vendor software
- None required
- Runs On
- Linux / Windows / MacOS
What You Can Command on the PreciseFlex
Each part of the arm is its own set of Python commands. The connector checks which plugins your controller runs when it connects, so plate transport and hand-guiding only show up where the controller supports them.
Cartesian Motion
Move to or by a Cartesian position, check that a target is reachable before moving, home the arm, and stream its live position.
Joint Motion
Move each axis to an absolute or relative position and stream joint values, the simplest way to teach a location.
Paths
Send a list of waypoints and the arm runs them as one blended path, with its own motion profile on each leg.
Gripper
Open and close the servo jaws to a position, or grab and release with a torque-limited grip.
Plate Transport
With the PARobot plugin: pick up and put down labware along an approach, target and retract path, each segment with its own profile.
Safety
Trigger an e-stop that halts motion and cuts power, cancel a move in progress, and recover after a collision.
Know One Connector, Know Them All
Every instrument is found and called the same way, and the same Python drives whatever comes next. See how that scales from one instrument to a whole lab with our lab orchestration software.
One API, Every Instrument
Find it by name, then call its actions. It's the same on a liquid handler, a reader or an incubator, whatever the vendor ships underneath.
Ask a Connector What It Can Do
Modules and actions are discoverable at runtime, and parameters carry their own types, units and constraints. You don't need a PDF to find out.
Also Works With
The same Python script can drive every instrument on the bench. A liquid handler sets up the plate, a thermal cycler can cycle it, and a reader measures it, all from one script.
Brooks PreciseFlex
The questions automation engineers ask before integrating a PreciseFlex robot arm.
Yes. The UniteLabs connector exposes the PF400 as Python commands: move in Cartesian or joint space, run blended paths, and grip plates. It's ordinary async Python, so it can be version-controlled, tested and generated at runtime like any other code.
No. The connector carries its own build of the TCS controller project and uploads it to the arm's controller over the network on first connect, then checks it's current every time. Nothing else needs installing on your PC.
Standard and extended reach arms with a 400, 750 or 1160 mm column, with or without a linear rail, using the arm's own servo jaw gripper.
With the PARobot plugin, switch the arm to free-hand mode, guide it by hand and read the position from the live stream. Touch down to find Z, check a target is reachable before you move, and keep the positions in your code.
Yes, with the PARobot plugin on the controller. Pick up and put down labware along an approach, target and retract path, with its own speed profile on each segment.
An e-stop halts motion and cuts power, and you can recover from a collision in code. The connector refuses Cartesian moves near singularities and never switches power on by itself at boot.