LiCONiC STX Integration
Drive your automated incubator in Python, without writing STXLib calls yourself
Load and unload plates by cassette and level, read barcodes, run a full inventory, and set temperature, humidity and gas where your unit has them.
- Supports
- STX 44 to STX 880
- Connects over
- Serial
- Local interface
- SiLA 2
- Vendor software
- STXLib, bundled
- Runs On
- Linux / Windows
What the STX Connector Covers
LiCONiC builds every STX to order, so you declare the climate, gas and barcode options in the configuration and the connector registers those.
Plate Transport
Load a plate from the transfer station into a cassette slot and unload it back out, or pick and place with the handler step by step.
Occupancy
Check whether a slot holds a plate, and whether the handler or the transfer station is occupied.
Barcodes and Inventory
Read the barcode in a slot or at the transfer station, or scan every slot for a full inventory. Needs a barcode reader port in the configuration.
Climate
Set and stream temperature and relative humidity on units built with a climate option.
Gases
Set and stream CO₂, N₂ or O₂ concentration, one control per gas your unit has.
Status and Recovery
Stream ready, busy and error flags with the active error list, initialize the handler, reset after a fault, and check the user door is closed.
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, so a plate can move from one instrument to the next without switching tools.
LiCONiC STX
The questions automation engineers ask before integrating an STX.
Yes, once the connector ships. It's written, and STX support is delivered within about six weeks of your order. From then on you load, unload and inventory plates from Python.
Yes. A unit with no climate or gassing option is a plate hotel, and the connector serves plate transport, barcodes and status for it. You declare what's fitted in the configuration, because the device can't report it.
No. Connecting leaves the handler where it is, so a loaded unit stays put. Call initialize before the first plate operation to home the handler to cassette 1.
Cancelling stops the connector waiting, and the move itself runs to the end, because the STX can't abort a motion once it starts. The device only signals busy or idle, so commands report done or not done.
LiCONiC's STXLib library ships with the connector for Windows (32 and 64-bit) and Linux (x86-64 and ARM64), so there's nothing extra to install.