Python LabAssistant
Quickly and easily interact with common lab instruments such as power supplies, multimeters, electronic loads, and oscilloscopes using SCPI and PyVisa.
Write scripts that will work across multiple devices, without needing to rewrite any code.
STATUS
Actively developing this project. Looking to release sometime in 2025.
Project is already open and can be found on my github.
Once the project is more polished there will be a big documentation push for this project.
Overview
General
Quickly and easily interact with common lab instruments such as power supplies, multimeters, electronic loads, and oscilloscopes using SCPI and PyVisa. Write scripts that will work across multiple devices, without needing to rewrite any code.
Why I Made This Tool
I find myself working in a lab most days during the week, whether its a professional lab at work, or in my home lab on the weekend. I'm lucky enough to work with tools that can be programmed remotely. Though for the past 5 years, I seldom used the feature. Then one day I was exposed to LabView...
Now I'm a hardware guy. Theoretically, LabView's circuit-esc programming style is supposedly tailored towards folk like me? But I always get the sense that labview is all GUI and no guts. So I started to design my own tool that could replace LabView for quick R&D style tests.
A key value proposition for this tool was to be able to write scripts that will work both in the office and in my home lab. I need to be able to easily add new devices and have them work without needing to rewrite code. So if I design a tool on the weekend, I should be able to use it in the office too. The entirety of this module was built around this core idea: ease of use, adaptability, and seamless integration across different environments.
Alternatives
Around the time I started working on this project (mid 2024) Google also realeased an internal tool they've been using for some time. I learned this a little too late though.