MaestroGen Introduces a Smart Pipetting Aid Powered by a Tablet

Consumer smart devices like tablets and cell phones have been increasingly used by lab scientists on the bench. MaestroGen takes it one step further by designing a smart lab device iTrack, which is a pipetting tracking tool that is completely controlled and powered by an 8” Android tablet.

Pipetting error is a major cause for reaction failure. There has been a number of pipetting tracking devices on the market. However, none of them is “smart” enough to know actual pipetting locations.

Users have to enter their pipetting protocols first, and then manually press an advance button after each pipetting step. By contrast, iTrack uses optical sensors to detect actual pipetting locations, flags pipetted locations with sounds and lights, and records every pipetting movement in a log file.

“Smart devices are usually controlled by hand gestures.” Andrew Lin, marketing manager from MaestroGen said, “Like human fingers, pipettes can be detected by optical touch screen technologies.” iTrack uses two layers of infrared sensors to monitor pipetting movements on 96- and 384-well microplates, and works for single-, 8-, and 12-channel fixed space pipettes.’

“Most amazingly, the entire system is powered by an 8” Android tablet, which can also be used as a standalone tablet for many lab tasks.” Andrew Lin said, “We believe iTrack is the first truly smart lab device. It will be interesting to see whether it will facilitate the adoption of more smart technologies in labs.”

iTrack is available exclusively from SmartLabBench.com as it was launched in March 2015.