Open-source Liquid Handler

[Orome]

Hey all,
I recently came across the opentrons open-source liquid handler system and participated in a video demo with one of their sales managers. They claim to have managed to automate Nextera XT library prep including bead-based normalization, but for $3,000 that seems a bit too good to be true. Does anyone here have any experience with this (very small - they have only sold around 400 systems yet) company.

Thanks a ton.

[sbarberan]

Did you find more information about this liquid handler? We are also interested in this system, it does sounds like a perfect low-budget solution.

[Orome]

I actually had the chance to see one in the flesh. It is indeed a cool idea. The liquid handler is basically a 3d printer like contraption that takes normal handheld single- and multi-channel pipettes. It seems to do the job perfectly well if you are investing a bit of time and not working with super critical applications. Apparently, you have to do quite a bit of adjustments before it runs smoothly. Opentrons don't provide any kind of on-site support but seem to have a helpful online support.
It has none of the fancy features of the "professional" LHs like collision control, liquid status control or any kind of certification. I would probably not use it to automate my entire pipeline but consider buying one for simple and non-critical tasks (at <10% the price of a Eppendorf/Hamilton/etc. this is too tempting).