Common issues & fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Low plasmid yield | Over- or under-lysis, or bead loss | Keep lysis time tight; check bead resuspension and reservoir volumes. |
| Poor A260/280 (protein carryover) | Insufficient washing | Confirm both washes ran and supernatant cleared on camera; check ethanol wash volume. |
| RNA contamination | RNase A omitted or inactive | Add fresh RNase A to the resuspension buffer. |
| Run paused mid-protocol | Vision flagged a plate/tip exception | Re-seat the flagged item as prompted; the robot resumes from that step. |
When not to automate this
This protocol is currently simulated — validate yields and purity against your manual miniprep baseline before production use. For a handful of preps occasionally, a manual spin-column kit may be faster than deck setup.
Verification: this protocol is simulation-verified — confirmed to run in the simulator but not yet run on hardware by RoR. Validate before using with critical samples.