TA Instruments TRIOS AutoPilot thermal analysis software

Waters has introduced TRIOS AutoPilot software from its TA Instruments division for its thermal analyser product line. The software is designed to help laboratory staff using TA’s thermal analysers create routine and streamlined standard operating procedures (SOPs) up to 25% faster, and avoid transcription errors that can inhibit productivity and lead to inconsistent thermal analysis measurements that are used to assess materials performance as well as batch-to-batch product quality. Whether users are making measurements in a research lab or production environment, the software should help to provide uniform thermal analysis data quickly and reduce costs associated with training and retraining operators to run samples properly.

The software’s OneTouch interface guides operators with video and text prompts designed to simplify the process of getting test results. The software comes with a comprehensive set of pre-written express scripts for automating many common procedures such as sample loading, instrument calibration and verification, and formatting and exporting data files into laboratory information management systems (LIMS).

The thermal analysis software is based on Google’s visual programming interface, Blockly, which is open-source software that gives operators an intuitive way to create custom scripts and configure them for thermal analysis applications without the need to learn a higher-level programming language. This allows laboratories to capture written SOPs, along with the institutional knowledge of more experienced operators, and codify them into scripts that can be shared throughout the enterprise.

To ensure compliance with regulatory requirements such as 21CFRPart11, the software features built-in audit trails and data integrity options with electronic signatures.