Hardware Modules

Hardware modules are powered and unpowered deck-mounted peripherals. The Flex and OT-2 are aware of deck-mounted powered modules when they're attached via a USB connection and used in an uploaded protocol. The robots do not know about unpowered modules until you use one in a protocol and upload it to the Opentrons App.

Powered modules include the Absorbance Plate Reader Module, Heater-Shaker Module, Magnetic Module, Temperature Module, and Thermocycler Module. The 96-well Magnetic Block is an unpowered module.

Pages in this section of the documentation cover:

• Setting up modules and their labware
• Working with the module contexts for each type of module:
  • Absorbance Plate Reader Module
  • Flex Stacker Module
  • Heater-Shaker Module
  • Magnetic Block
  • Magnetic Module
  • Temperature Module
  • Thermocycler Module
• Working with multiple modules of the same type in a single protocol.

Note

Throughout these pages, most code examples use coordinate deck slot locations (e.g. "D1", "D2"), like those found on Flex. If you have an OT-2 and are using API version 2.14 or earlier, replace the coordinate with its numeric OT-2 equivalent. For example, slot D1 on Flex corresponds to slot 1 on an OT-2. See Deck Slots for more information.