BBD302 XY stage axes appear as separate devices

[jacob-chamoun]

As of May 2025, Thorlabs MLS203-series linear motor driven XY microscope stages are driven by the BBD302 controller. When following the installation and configuration instructions, the X and Y axes of the stage (controller channels 1 and 2) appear in the installed device list as two separate linear stages.

This causes micro-manager to interpret the XY stage as two separate linear stages rather than a single XY stage. Later in the hardware configuration wizard, no option for a default XY stage appears, while the separate X and Y axes incorrectly appear as choices for a default focus stage.

After hardware configuration when running micro-manager, the stages appear in the stage control window as two separate linear stages.

This status breaks the micro-manager multi-dimensional acquisitions and the create grid feature in the stage positions list, which appear greyed-out.

== System ==

Hardware:
BBD302 brushless servo controller
MLS203 High-Speed, Low-Profile Motorized XY Scanning Stage

Software:
Windows 11 Pro
MM Studio version: 2.0.3 20250506
MMCore version 11.5.0
Device API version 73, Module API version 10

[marktsuchida]

@jacob-chamoun Thank you for the detailed report.

After adding the two axes, can you try (in Step 2 of the Wizard) adding Utilities > ComboXYStage?

After exiting the Wizard, you can set the PhysicalStage-X and -Y properties to the two axes.

https://micro-manager.org/Utilities#combo-xy-stage

Let me know if it works; we should probably add this to the README.

[jacob-chamoun]

@marktsuchida

Using Utilities > ComboXYStage resolves the issue submitted above, with the following caveats. These may be more micromanager or comboXY issues than a ThorlabsKinesis issue, but I'll state them anyway.

In the stage control window, clicking the minus sign does not remove the individual stage:

The property values set in the device property browser for the ComboXY stage do not persist across closing/reopening micromanager, so the physical stage values must be manually reset every time.