Psa: io objects now require a human readable name

rickwierenga · March 11, 2026, 6:20pm

improves error messages from "forgot to call setup?", which is ambiguous in multiple device contexts …

… to for example Call setup() first for device 'Biotek Cytation 5'

it is a required parameter

github.com/PyLabRobot/pylabrobot

Add human-readable device names to IO layer error messages

main ← human-readable-io-names

opened 05:23PM - 09 Mar 26 UTC

rickwierenga

+157 -79

## Summary - Add a required `human_readable_device_name` parameter to all 5 `IOB…ase` subclasses (`Serial`, `USB`, `FTDI`, `Socket`, `HID`) and their validators - Replace bare `assert` checks with `RuntimeError` raises that include the device name in the message - Update all 19 backends to pass a descriptive device name (e.g. `"Hamilton Liquid Handler"`, `"Mettler Toledo Scale"`, `"BMG CLARIOstar"`) This makes it much easier to diagnose connection issues when multiple devices are connected — error messages now say *which* device failed rather than a generic "Device not connected". ## Test plan - [ ] Verify all existing tests pass - [ ] Verify IO classes reject missing `human_readable_device_name` at construction time - [ ] Verify error messages include the device name when a device is not connected 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)