RuntimeError: Could not find simulation files

PyLabRobot User Discussion
1

Hello. I am attempting to setup the simulator backend. I have followed the installation documentation and have a created a virtual environment running on a raspberry pi. When I get to the point of calling the lh.setup() command I get a RuntimeError stating that the simulation files cannot be found. Do you have any suggestions on how I might resolve this error?

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#5>", line 1, in <module>
    lh.setup()
  File "//home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pylabrobot/liquid_handling/liquid_handler.py", line 106, in setup
    self.backend.setup()
  File "//home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pylabrobot/liquid_handling/backends/simulation/simulator_backend.py", line 104, in setup
    self._run_file_server()
  File "//home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pylabrobot/liquid_handling/backends/simulation/simulator_backend.py", line 112, in _run_file_server
    raise RuntimeError("Could not find simulation files. Please run from the root of the "
INFO:websockets.server:server listening on 127.0.0.1:2121
RuntimeError: Could not find simulation files. Please run from the root of the repository.
2

Hi, happy to help. Could you share your code and from where you run Python?

3

Hi Rick. Thanks! From Terminal I am designating the source location for the virtual environment and launching IDLE Shell. From there I’ve entered the commands from the simulator documentation:

Terminal -

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ source /home/pi/tfb/bin/activate
(tfb) pi@raspberrypi:~ $ python -m idlelib

IDLE -

Python 3.9.2 (default, Mar 12 2021, 04:06:34) 
[GCC 10.2.1 20210110] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information.
>>> from pylabrobot.liquid_handling import LiquidHandler
INFO:opentrons_shared_data.load:Using packaged shared data path: //home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/opentrons_shared_data/data
>>> from pylabrobot.liquid_handling.backends.simulation.simulator_backend import SimulatorBackend
>>> 
>>> from pylabrobot.liquid_handling.resources.hamilton import STARLetDeck
>>> sb = SimulatorBackend()
>>> lh = LiquidHandler(backend=sb, deck=STARLetDeck())
>>> lh.setup()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#6>", line 1, in <module>
    lh.setup()
  File "//home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pylabrobot/liquid_handling/liquid_handler.py", line 106, in setup
    self.backend.setup()
  File "//home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pylabrobot/liquid_handling/backends/simulation/simulator_backend.py", line 104, in setup
    self._run_file_server()
  File "//home/pi/tfb/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pylabrobot/liquid_handling/backends/simulation/simulator_backend.py", line 112, in _run_file_server
    raise RuntimeError("Could not find simulation files. Please run from the root of the "
INFO:websockets.server:server listening on 127.0.0.1:2121
Simulation server started at http://127.0.0.1:2121RuntimeError: Could not find simulation files. Please run from the root of the repository.
4

Oops, my bad. I just deployed the fixed version. Running pip install pylabrobot --upgrade should fix it.

Thanks again for reporting!

(Just to explain what happened: I forgot to upload the simulator’s html/css/js files to PyPI, it defaults to Python only, meaning the pip-version was not able to find those)

5

That did the trick! Thanks for the explanation. I haven’t used python in quite awhile so I’m excited to refamiliarize myself with it on our Starlet.

6

Great!