FAQ
Usage Tips
What is SiriusSlate®PDA?
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In short, SiriusSlate®PDA is designed to drive MTAC/Bohdan
workstations with an unique software architecture allowing
post-purchase automation sequence alteration and creation. With a vast
set of building blocks in the tool kit, SiriusSlate®PDA can be programmed to
handle complex weighing, liquid handling, bar code reading&labeling
and much much more. Users have endless possibility within
SiriusSlate®PDA.
Where can I get a demo of the software?
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Please contact sales@siriusautomation.com to arrange a free online webinar where
our product specialist will conduct an interactive session to
demonstrate the software application.
Is it easy to install and run?
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With a few clicks, the software will be fully installed on your PC.
If you have I/O control information of the workstation, you are fully
empowered to build everything from the ground up. Or, Sirius
Automation can pre-build the basic modules for you which can be
refined later to fit your needs. On-site installation is also
available.
Do you offer on-site training?
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Yes! Our product specialists can come to your lab and help you get
up to speed quickly with our structured learning process.
Can we build methods offline with this software?
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Absolutely! SiriusSlate®PDA is designed with intelligence to detect
the presence of the robot. If the hardware is not found, the software
automatically runs in an offline mode through which you can still work
on building your favorite methods! The offline-built methods can be
easily imported into the copy driving the actual robot.
What do you mean by "the software actually learns .."?
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Ok, without any user interactions, SiriusSlate®PDA is simply a
blank sheet of paper. User has the responsibility of knowledge
infusion by informing hardware configurations (ports, balance
settings, syringe parameters, etc), designing automation sequences,
configuring reports and much more. By leveraging SAI's proprietary
software design patterns, the software empowers the user to
continuously refine the building blocks which will contribute to the
stability and performance of the final executable methods/processes.
Essentially, the more you use it, the better it becomes! Oh, yes, each
SiriusSlate®PDA will have its unique personality over time!
Can the database be shared by
multiple SiriusSlate®PDAs?
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Yes! SiriusSlate®PDA is designed to optimize the operation workflow
and one of the key features is database sharing. This feature
optimizes the data coordination among the workstations and eliminates
the risks of data mishandling.
Does it have
tiered security entitlement?
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Yes, SiriusSlate®PDA offers four security entitlement levels - Admin,
Super User, Advanced and Regular. Each level is entitled to access
different set of application components. For example, "Regular" user
can only start the run without permision to modify parameters or methods
while "Admin" user has access to everything. Admin assigns
entitlement expirations, and records reasons and notes behind changes.
Usage Tips
How to access
Process Architect? return to top of Usage
Tips
You may access Process Architect either by clicking on the tool bar
button
or by editing an existing process listed in the Job Viewer
(assuming appropriate security entitlement level)..
How to build a reusable
module? return to top of Usage Tips
- Go to Process Architect
- Click on button "New" located on the right hand side of the
screen. The following screen will be displayed.
- Choose type "Module" and in this example, "My Test Module" is
typed in as the name of the module.
- Description can be anything and it can also be viewed in a
tooltip displayed when you put your mouse cursor over the this
module in the Resource Pool after it's built.
- Run Time Display (as the name suggested) will be seen when this
module is executed during a run.
- Check the box "Used in Utility" if you need to access this
module in the "Utilities" screen or in the Teach.
- Check the box "Invoked during Workstation Initialization" if you
want to run this module upon the start of the software.
- Click "OK" on the dialog and you will enter into the edit mode
for this module.
- Drag and drop the items from the Resource Pool over to the
Content view. During the drag and drop, certain parameters will need
to be entered depending on the nature of the item. In this example,
we constructed the module with 2 native functions - Message and
Digital Output.
- Click "Save" to save the module. Now, this module has become a
member of the Resource Pool, ready for future usages!
How to build an executable
process? return to top of Usage Tips
- Go to Process Architect
- Click on button "New" located on the right hand side of the
screen. The following screen will be displayed.
- Choose type "Process" and in this example, let's build a
weighing process.
- We use a combinations of previously built modules (RackToBalance
and BalanceToRack) and native functions to construct this process.
- What this process does is that the robot transfers a sample to
the balance, weighs it and then transports it back to the rack.
- If you don't like what the module (for example) "RackToBalance"
delivers, you may modify it to suite your needs (see how to do it in
the next tip).
- Select an icon to represent this process (since it will be
listed in the Job Manager along with other processes!). Click button
"Pick Icon" and the following screen will appear.
- After an icon is chosen, don't forget to configure the report!
Click "Report Config" button to enter the screen below.
- In the report configuration, pick and choose the items you'd
like to display in the report and you may arrange different order
and rename the columns any which way you prefer!
- After the report is configured, click on "Save" to save the
process.
- Done. And now the process is visible in the Job Manager ready
to serve you!
How can I modify an
existing module? return to top of Usage Tips
- Go to Process Architect
- Find the module you'd like to modify in the Resource Pool
- Either double-click on the module or highlight the module and
click on "Edit" button at the top of the Resource Pool.
- Now you have entered into the edit mode for this module. The
content of the module is shown in the Content view.
- To add steps, simply drag and drop new items from the Resource
Pool to the Content view.
- To remove a step, highlight the step in the Content view and
click on the "left arrow" in the middle of the screen.
- To modify a step, (NOTE: only native functions can be
modified here. If the step is a module, you need to open that module and
edit it), double-click on the native function and the content of
which will be displayed for you to edit.
(Here we changed the
Output# from 4 to 7.)
- After all the modifications are done, click on the "Save" button
in the Process Architect to save the changes.
- NOTE: All other modules/methods/processes that reference
this module will be automatically updated.
SSPDA
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