Hotels!

One of the big issues in running large experiments on the robot is managing plasticware. As the experiment progresses we need to use new plates, and these have to be stored somewhere until then.

To solve this issue, we decided to introduce hotels -- racks that can store multiple plates. Since we have an external arm (the KiNEDx), we ordered a hotel that can be accessed by the arm. This allows us to have a larger hotel and make it also more accessible for humans. 

We decided to start with a single hotel to see how it works. Several weeks ago we received it, and then had a meeting with the nice people from the mechanical workshop to discuss how to mount it. Today they showed up with the "stage". It is large enough to hold five hotels in the end. 

After installation, we have a nice hotel standing up. Next, we need to teach the robotic arm to access it.