Scanning on the Floor

Sporeline labels carry a QR code. What happens when you scan one depends on where you scan it:

Moving by scan works on blocks. Lots are moved from the lot page on the web (see Lots and Spawn), and from the lot screen in the phone app when your farm has Lot actions on phones turned on (see Lot actions on the phone).

Who can do it

• Move by scan, work at a kiosk station: Worker, Manager, Owner. Viewers can’t.
• Set up stations, print badges, action cards and location labels: Manager, Owner.

Before you start: print location labels

Move by scan needs a label at each location.

1. Open Configuration in the sidebar and go to the Stations tab. You can also open a location and click Print a sheet of location labels in its QR Code card.
2. In Location labels, tick the locations, or use Select all.
3. Click Print, and pick the sheet format.
4. Put each label where workers will see it at that location.

Scanning on the web

The web Scan page looks things up. It does not move anything.

1. Open Scan in the sidebar (or Scan on the Dashboard).
2. Click Start Camera and point it at a QR code. Or, with the Scan page open, use a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner; the item opens by itself.
3. Sporeline opens the block, lot, batch, or the order a delivery or pallet is on.

If scanning isn’t working, type a block ID or lot code in Look up a block or lot and click Go.

To move a block from the web, use its Move card, or the Blocks list. See Move Blocks Between Stages and Locations.

Kiosk scan station

A kiosk turns a phone or tablet running the Sporeline app into a shared station on the floor. Workers sign in with a badge, scan a location, then scan blocks to move them there.

Set up the station (Manager or Owner, on the web)

1. Open Configuration and go to the Stations tab.
2. Under Station profiles, click Seed from built-ins to add Harvest, Packing and Inoculation, or click Add profile to make your own. A profile sets which actions the station offers, the Undo window (seconds), the Idle timeout (minutes), and the Scanner type.
3. Under Operator badges, click Mint badge for each person, then Print. Viewers can’t get a badge.
4. Optionally, under Action cards, click Mint a card set and Print. Workers scan a card to switch the station to Move, Harvest, Flag contamination or Record readings mode. A station only switches to a mode its profile offers.
5. Click Save Stations. You see Scan stations saved.

Set up the device

1. Sign in to the Sporeline app on the phone or tablet. Use a dedicated Worker account for each station.
2. Open More and tap Kiosk Mode.
3. On Set up a scan station, enter a Station name (for example, Harvest room 2) and pick a Station profile.
4. Tap Start station.

From then on the device opens straight into the station when it is signed in.

Move blocks at the station

1. Tap Tap to pick your name, or scan your badge. The station greets you by name, and your name is recorded on each scan.
2. Scan the location label. The station switches to Move and shows Moving to that location.
3. Scan each block that is going there. Each one shows as moved.
4. If the location asks for confirmation, or the move would end the block (Completed, Contaminated or Discarded), tap Confirm move or Cancel.
5. To take back the last scan, tap Undo while it is showing.
6. When you are done, tap your name and I’m done — clear my name. The station also clears your name after the idle timeout.

The station also accepts cultures, agar plates and liquid cultures. A batch label that isn’t a lot gets This is a batch label — scan a block: scan the block instead.

The station keeps working without a connection. Scans wait on the device and are sent when it is back online. The header shows how many are waiting.

Move lots at the station

A station can move units of a lot from one rack to another. An Owner or Manager turns this on once for the farm in Settings > Optional features > Lot actions on phones. While it is off, a lot label at the station shows Lot actions on phones is off for this farm (Settings > Optional features) and nothing is recorded.

1. Pick your name or scan your badge, as for blocks.
2. Scan the location label the units are going to. The station shows Moving to that location.
3. Scan the lot label. The station shows the lot code, its stage, how many are on hand, and each rack that holds some with its count.
4. If the lot sits on more than one rack, tap the rack the units come from. A lot on a single rack has it picked already.
5. Type how many units are moving on the keypad. The keypad takes whole numbers only.
6. Tap Done. The station shows how many moved and to where. To move more of the same lot, scan its label again.

To take the move back, tap Undo while it is showing, just like a block. If you scan another location before tapping Done, the move switches to that location and keeps the lot. Cancel closes it without recording anything.

The station refuses on the spot what Sporeline would refuse later: more units than the rack holds, every unit already at that location, or a lot whose rack counts didn’t load (sync again and scan it once more). If an earlier action on the lot hasn’t been answered yet, the station asks you to let it sync first. A move recorded offline waits on the station like any other scan, and if someone else changed the lot in the meantime, Sporeline refuses it instead of moving the wrong units, and the station’s header counts it as failed. Scan the lot again to move what is really there.

Scanning a lot with no location picked first asks you to scan a location. Tapping View in Sporeline on a scanned lot opens its lot screen. Lots aren’t harvested at a station: in Harvest mode a lot label gets Lots aren’t harvested at a station. Scan a bag.

Flag contamination on a lot at the station

A station can flag contamination on a lot when Lot actions on phones is on and the station’s profile offers Flag contamination. A block scanned in Flag contamination mode is still flagged with one scan, as before.

1. Pick your name or scan your badge.
2. Switch the station to Flag contam (or scan the Flag contamination card), then scan the lot label. You can also scan the lot in Choose mode and tap Flag contamination.
3. Tap the reason. Only the lot type’s contamination reasons are offered (for example Mold or Stroma), and none is chosen for you: Done stays off until you pick one.
4. Leave Whole lot selected to flag every unit, or tap Some units, tap the rack (or Not placed), and type how many on the keypad.
5. Tap Done.

What Done records depends on the lot’s stage and who is signed in:

• Whole lot discards every unit of the lot with the reason you chose, one record for each rack that holds units and one for the units on no rack. The lot’s on hand goes to 0.
• Some units discards that many units from the rack you picked.
• If the lot is in a stage marked Released by a Manager and the station is signed in as a Worker, the panel says so, and Done saves a contamination report instead: the lot is flagged, the units stay, and a Manager discards them from the lot page.

To take it back, tap Undo while it is showing. A whole-lot flag is undone as one, every rack together. If part of it was already sent, the station says Some of it was already sent: open the lot to see what was recorded. Cancel closes the panel without recording anything, and so does scanning a location, switching mode or signing out.

The station refuses on the spot a lot with no units, a lot whose rack counts didn’t load, more units than the rack holds, and a lot with an earlier action still unanswered (let it sync, then scan again). After a flag, scan the lot again before doing anything else with it.

Leave kiosk mode

Tap Exit at the top of the station, then Exit again to confirm. Anything waiting to sync is still sent.

Phone app

Scan a block

1. Tap Scan in the middle of the bottom bar.
2. Point the camera at a block’s label. The block opens with Record Harvest, Move to stage, Flag Contamination, View Batch and Move.

Move by scan

1. On the Scan screen, tap Move. The Move by Scan screen opens in Single mode.
2. Scan the block, then scan the location label (Now scan destination location). You can also tap Select Location and pick from a list.
3. The block moves. If the location asks for confirmation, or the move would end the block, tap Confirm.

To move many blocks to one place, switch to Bulk:

1. Scan the location label first.
2. Scan each block. Each one moves as soon as it is scanned.
3. Tap Done when you are finished.

You can also collect blocks first: on the Scan screen, switch Single to Batch, scan the blocks, tap Move, then scan the location and tap Confirm.

What the phone app can’t do today

• Move by scan on the phone needs a connection. It doesn’t queue scans offline the way a kiosk station does, and it has no undo.
• Move by Scan moves blocks. A lot label scanned there in Single mode opens the lot screen with the camera on, and with Lot actions on phones on, scanning a rack label there moves the lot or changes its stage (see Scan a rack to move a lot). The lot screen also moves, discards, uses or changes the stage of a lot, offline too (see Lot actions on the phone). A label of a batch of blocks asks you to scan a block instead, and lab items are not moved by scan on the phone.
• It has no badges or action cards; scans are recorded under the signed-in person.
• It doesn’t run counts. To count with a phone, pair the phone’s web browser (not the app) to a count on the computer with Pair a phone. If a scan isn’t accepted, the phone shows Not sent with Retry and Skip this scan. See Counts by Scan.

When something goes wrong

• “Camera Scanning Not Supported” on the web — use Chrome on Android, or Chrome or Edge on a computer, or use a barcode scanner, or type the code under Look up a block or lot.
• A handheld scanner does nothing — it must be set to end each scan with Enter. Scanning the same code twice within 2 seconds counts once.
• “Scan a location first” at a kiosk — scan a location label before the blocks. A block scanned first moves as soon as you scan a location.
• “Pick your name or scan your badge” — the station needs an operator before it records anything. Nothing was recorded; sign in and scan again.
• “This is a batch label — scan a block” — scan the label on the block itself.
• “Can’t move … to …” — your farm doesn’t allow that stage change. Ask a Manager to check the stage settings.
• “Moving isn’t enabled at this station” — the station’s profile doesn’t include Move. A Manager can add it under Configuration > Stations.
• “Station profile not found” — the profile was removed on the web. Tap Set up this station again.
• “Move failed” in the phone app — check the connection and scan again.

With an AI assistant

If you have a code but no scanner handy, a connected assistant can look it up the way the Scan page’s manual box does, through the block_find_by_code tool: a label link or block ID gives the block, a lot code gives the lot. A block’s own short code is only unique inside its batch, so tell the assistant which batch it is in. Once it has the block, block_events_list reads its history. Ask it something like “What stage is block 1A2B-007 in batch 093026-AB-13, and when was it last moved?”