Tecan Fluent & Freedom EVO

The Fluent Automation Workstation and its predecessor the Freedom EVO are Tecan’s modular pipetting platforms: a worktable, one to three robotic arms, and a choice of liquid- or air-displacement pipetting. Revolution does not pipette these instruments directly. The pipetting stays where it belongs — in FluentControl on the Fluent, in Freedom EVOware on the EVO — and Revolution triggers a named method or script at the right point in the schedule, then blocks until it has finished.

Tecan states that sales of Freedom EVO products ended on 31 December 2025, with regional exceptions for China, and that it will provide full service and technical support, spare parts and consumables for existing Freedom EVO systems through 30 June 2033. Tecan names the Veya and Fluent platforms as the successor systems. If you are specifying a new instrument, specify a Fluent.

At a glance

Instruments	Fluent 480, Fluent 780, Fluent 1080; Freedom EVO 100, 150, 200
Arms	Fluent 480: 1–2. Fluent 780 and 1080: 1–3. Freedom EVO 100: 1–2. EVO 150 and 200: 1–3
Instrument software	FluentControl (Fluent) or Freedom EVOware (EVO) — required. Revolution runs their methods and scripts, it does not replace them
Revolution control	Run a named FluentControl method; run a named EVOware script. Plate barcodes are written to the Tecan PC on every place
Driver device classes	Tecan Fluent 1080, Tecan Evo

Specifications

Fluent Automation Workstation

Published by Tecan in the Fluent specification sheet (398328).

	Fluent 480	Fluent 780	Fluent 1080
Robotic arms	1–2	1–3	1–3
Width	1,150 mm / 45.28”	1,650 mm / 64.96”	2,150 mm / 84.65”
Depth	785 mm / 30.9”	785 mm / 30.9”	785 mm / 30.9”
Height (standard Z)	1,236 mm / 48.6”	1,236 mm / 48.6”	1,236 mm / 48.6”
Height (long Z)	2,301 mm / 90.6”	2,301 mm / 90.6”	2,301 mm / 90.6”
Plate / tip box capacity (before stacking or nesting)	30	48	72
DeckCheck cameras	1	3	3

Tecan notes that dual Flexible Channel Arms are possible on the 780 and 1080.

Liquid handling range	Less than 1 µl to over 5 ml depending on configuration
Flexible Channel Arm (FCA)	Eight pipetting channels with independent Z movement and automatic Y tip spacing from 9–38 mm; choice of liquid displacement or air displacement pipetting systems
MCA 96	Volume range of 1 to 1,000 µl free dispense
MCA 384/96	Volume range of 250 nl to 500 µl; automatic exchange between 384- and 96-tip formats
FCA gripper	Maximum lift 0.4 kg (0.88 lb)
Robotic Gripper Arm (RGA)	Max transportable weight (eccentric fingers) 0.45 kg (1.00 lb); vertical range standard Z 335 mm, long Z 645 mm
Precision of arm movement	± 0.1 mm on X, Y, Z axes
Operating system	Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 (version 1809)
Regulatory compliance	CE (2006/42/EU, 2014/30/EU, 2011/65/EU) and CSA marked; laser certification IEC 60825-1:2014

The plate and tip box capacity figure is the number worth checking against your schedule first: it is the deck footprint before stackers, so a schedule that cycles many plates through the Fluent will need a hotel or stacker on the deck, and those positions come out of the same budget.

Freedom EVO

Published by Tecan in the Freedom EVO specification sheet (399174).

	Freedom EVO 100	Freedom EVO 150	Freedom EVO 200
Height	870 mm / 34.3”	870 mm / 34.3”	870 mm / 34.3”
Width	1,075 mm / 42.3”	1,450 mm / 57.0”	2,050 mm / 80.7”
Depth	780 mm / 30.7”	780 mm / 30.7”	780 mm / 30.7”
Weight (base unit only)	110 kg / 242 lbs	130 kg / 286 lbs	182 kg / 400 lbs
Robotic arms	1–2	1–3	1–3
Power	600 VA	1200 VA	1200 VA

Arms available	Liquid LiHa with 2, 4 or 8 channels; Air LiHa with 4 or 8 channels; Robotic Manipulator (RoMa); RoMa extended Z; Pick and Place (PnP); MCA 96; MCA 384
Liquid LiHa volume range	0.5 to 5000 µl
Air LiHa volume range	0.5 to 1000 µl, non-contact dispense down to 0.5 µl
Precision of movement	LiHa / Air LiHa: ± 0.4 mm on X, Y, Z. RoMa and PnP: ± 0.4 mm X, ± 0.5 mm Y, ± 0.3 mm Z. MCA 96 / MCA 384: ± 0.5 mm on X, Y, Z
RoMa payload	Max. 400 g; gripper range 58 to 140 mm
PnP payload	Max. 100 g; tube diameter 11 to 18 mm; 360° unlimited rotation
Positive sample identification	Fully automated barcode scanner (PosID) for tubes, plates, reagents and carriers
Operating software	Freedom EVOware; Freedom EVOware Plus additionally provides advanced process scheduling capabilities
Operating system	Windows 7 / 64 bit
Voltage	100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz
Operating conditions	15–32 °C / 59–90 °F, relative humidity 30–80 % (non-condensing)
Pipetting conditions	20–27 °C / 68–80.6 °F, relative humidity 30–60 % (non-condensing)

Note the two temperature bands: Tecan specifies a narrower window for pipetting than for operation, so a Freedom EVO in a warm room can be running and still be outside its pipetting specification.

Supported methods

Fluent

• Run method — takes a single parameter, Method name to run protocol: the name of a FluentControl method containing one or more scripts. Revolution starts the method and then blocks until FluentControl returns to idle, so the schedule’s timing is the method’s real duration rather than an estimate.
• Test save barcode manual — takes a location name and a barcode, and writes that barcode to the exchange folder as if a plate had just been placed. This is a commissioning aid for checking that the Tecan PC picks the file up.
• Test save barcode — takes a location index and writes the barcode of whatever object the driver currently believes is at that device location. The same commissioning aid, driven from the schedule’s own view of the deck.

Barcode hand-off is not an operation you call — it happens automatically. Every time a plate is placed on a Fluent device location, the driver writes a file named after the location into the configured barcode output folder, containing that plate’s barcode. A FluentControl method that needs to know which plate it is working on reads that file.

While a method runs, the driver watches FluentControl for a dialog awaiting an operator response. If one appears, Revolution raises a warning event and sends an email rather than waiting silently — worth wiring up before the first unattended overnight run.

Freedom EVO

• Run script — takes a script name, prepares and starts that script in EVOware, and waits for it to return to idle. The driver allows up to 60 minutes for the script to complete; a longer script needs to be split, or the driver extended.

Integration

Both drivers keep the vendor software at arm’s length, but they do it differently.

The Fluent driver talks to FluentControl through a separate 32-bit host process on the instrument PC, over HTTP. Revolution never loads the Tecan API into the scheduler process, so a fault in the vendor stack cannot take the scheduler down with it. There is one host build per FluentControl generation — 2.8, 3.3 and 3.5 — all wrapping the same driver logic, so the version of FluentControl on the instrument PC decides which host you deploy. Tecan documents this route: FluentControl “offers flexible interaction with external programs. Execute applications or start/stop runs from your own software’s custom code via VB.NET or use the built-in Fluent-API.”

The Freedom EVO driver uses the EVOware API in-process, logging on with a username and password, then initialising the instrument and waiting for it to reach the initialised state.

Prerequisites

• FluentControl (or Freedom EVOware) must be installed and licensed on the instrument PC. Revolution runs its methods; it does not replace them.
• For the Fluent, the WCF host must be running before the device is initialised in Revolution. It starts FluentControl, or attaches to a running instance, and initialises the instrument against the configured default worktable. FluentControl must be in edit mode at that point, or initialisation fails.
• Disable Method recovery in FluentControl’s application settings. With recovery enabled, FluentControl’s own restart behaviour fights the scheduler’s.
• Every FluentControl method must write the method-completed file as its last step. Revolution checks for that file when the run ends and treats its absence as a failure — this is how it distinguishes a method that finished from one that stopped part-way. Get this wrong and every successful run reports as an error.
• For the EVO, the EVOware user account Revolution logs on with must exist and have rights to run the scripts you intend to call.

Device configuration

Fluent (Tecan Fluent 1080):

Property	Purpose
Url	Address of the WCF host on the instrument PC. Defaults to http://localhost:1023/tecanfluent; must match the host’s own port
BarcodeOutputFolder	Folder the per-location barcode files are written to. Defaults to c:\tecanexchange. FluentControl methods read from here
DefaultWorktable	Worktable the instrument is initialised against on startup
MethodCompletedFile	File the driver checks to confirm a method ran to completion. Defaults to c:\tecanexchange\methodcompleted.txt

Freedom EVO (Tecan Evo):

Property	Purpose
EvoUsername	EVOware account the driver logs on as
EvoPassword	Password for that account

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.