New: The COSI conference paper is out on OSA, A preprint will soon appear on BioRxiv.
New: We have updated many modules and their pictured tutorials with in CAD
New: We have a new comprehenssive 2-day workshop documented in WORKSHOP
| TheBOX | General toolbox | Workshops |
|---|---|---|
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| Build your own BOX that contains multiple experiments. | Explore the toolbox and what we already offer. | Host or join a workshop. |
Making open-science great again!
UC2 is a general-purpose modular framework for making interactive (electro)-optical projects. Most optical systems such as microscopes follow a simple 4f or Fourier-optical principle, where lenses are aligned such that focal-planes of adjacent components overlap to limit the amount of aberrations as much as possible and to be able to predict the system-behavior easily using Fourier-transforms.
Following this idea, a microscope as shown in Fig 1 creates an angular magnification depending on the focal lenghts of the objective fobj and tube lens ftube:
M4f= fobj/ftube
Fig 1: Fourier-Optical Setup; Koehler Illumination where the illumination plane is conjugate to the objective pupil plane (BFP)
Besides optical components, the UC2 building blocks can also host electronics such as Arduinos or ESP32s to create ''smart'' functions like LED array illumination, Z-stages, et cetera. Communication can be granted through the wired I² BUS or the wireless MQTT protocol.
UC2 is in active development. It is meant to be used not only by beginners, but also for professionals dealing with optical setups on a daily basis. Its magnetic click-and-go concept simplifies the process of aligning and adjusting the parts giving new tools acting as rapid-prototyping devices. It also comes with a series of open-source workshops (in the future) explaining the theory behind optics.
People are also encouraged to share their work. We are curious what the community is doing with our little blocks. All necessary details to modify the design of the blocks are given in the sub-folders of the specific folders. Share your ideas through our @openUC2-Twitter account.
A full cube + base-plate looks like that:
Fig 2: Assembly of the cube + base-plate; A set of ferro-magnetic screws hold the lid and base-cube in place and connect to 4 5mm NeoDym ballmagnets sitting in the base-plate; Optical components find their place inside the cube.
UC2 can be used with cameras from the Raspberry Pi world, but creates even more beautiful images with your cellphone. Thus making cutting edge-research not only affordable, but also available. A more in-detail project description can be found in the UC2 White-Paper
The idea is to use UC2 as an open-standard or bridge to external hardware components and devices such as cameras or lenses. An already existing or customized adapter/insert creates the link to the UC2 eco-system. A variety of ready-to-use adapters can be found in the folder CAD.
FIG 3: The structure of any UC2 assembly follows the green lines; A basic cube can hold an insert thus adapting to different components (i.e. lenses, etc.); A number of assembled cube-modules can form a complex optical system here called application
A more in-detail description of the MDK (Module Developer Kit) which explains how your idea can be adapted to the module system can be found in the MDK-folder.
If you have a new part, we are eager to see it. Please feel free to share it on available resources like Twitter, Thingiverse, Github or any other platform of choice!
Our goal is to make as many setups as possible available, so that people can play with it. Basically everything's possible, you just need to think in blocks! Please go to the CAD-folder to have the updated version of the list below.
- THEBox: Concept of a ready-to-use box containing multiple setups at once
- SIMPLEBox: Optical setups for elementary- to high-schools
- FULLBox: Optical setups for high-schools to universities (contains electronics)
- In-Incubator Microscope with X/Y/Z-control and adaptive illumination
- Light-Sheet Microscope
- In-Line Holographical Microscope
- Telescope
- Abbe Experiment (Diffraction-effect of light)
- Michelson interferometer (Interference-effect of light)
- Mach Zehnder interferometer (Interference-effect of light)
- Double Slit Experiment (Interference-effect of light)
- openSIM - Structured Illumination Microscopy (2-Beam Interference Super-Resolution)
- openISM - Image Scanning Microscopy (Confocal or Super-confocal imaging)
- openKOEHLER - Phase Contrast enhancement using an adaptive Koehler illumination
Currently, UC2 consists of the following repositories:
- UC2 Hardware Repo (core) (this repository)
- UC2 Software Control Repo
- UC2+ImJoy Image Processing Repo
There is a new Software repository dedicated for the UC2 stuff. It can be found here. It supports you with controler APPS for the Raspberry Pi and Android Cellphones.
All the CAD-Parts can be printed using an off-the-shelf 3D printer (or 3D printing service). Currently we use majorly PLA and ABS coming from an ULTIMAKER 2+/3 (Netherlands), Be3D DeeGreen (Czech Republic) and Prusa i3 Mk3 (Czech Republic).
Each Application (e.g. Incubator Microscope) has a specific sub-folder in the CAD-section where all necessary .stl files are lying ready for printing.
A quick printing tutorial can be found here:
Attention: Don't just print everything from the STL folder, as currently it contains some parts that must be printed multiple times, and other parts that are redundant.
Hint: A detailed description of how-to-print the UC2-parts with a Prusa i3 can be found in the folder Printer.
The basic cube can directly be printed using the STL-files or imported in Autodesk's Inventor/Fusion360. Therefor we wrote a little tutorial which can be found here. A video is coming soon!
A quick tutorial where you find a guide on how an inlet could look like can be found here: Guide to design a customized function.
The documented workshops can be found in the folder WORKSHOP and give a step-by-step introduction into the system. We have done multiple workshops together with the HHMI Janelia Farm, UiO Oslo, Lichtwerkstatt Jena and Leibniz IPHT Jena e.V. If you're interested we are happy to host one near you.
All the parts are from typical distributors like Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay, etc. to provide an easy-to-build solution not relying on special components. The project is heavily benefiting from the wide variety and availability of components brought up by the open-source community.
Recent lists can be found here. It includes shops for the low-cost components we use in our setups as well as the List of all parts for the Boxes.
The GoogleDrive Spreadsheet is an always up-to-date version of the list.
----- THIS SECTION NEEDS REVISION -------
This project is open so that anyone can get involved. Ways you can contribute include (see also: https://github.com/rwb27/openflexure_microscope):
- Get involved in discussions in the ISSUE-section
- Raise an issue if you spot something that's wrong, or something that could be improved. This includes the instructions/documentation.
- We support you with the basic CAD Design files, so that you can develop specific hardware-function which can fit in our cubes (Autocad Inventor files are not accessible though)
- Suggest better text or images for the instructions.
- Improve the design of parts - even if you don't use OpenSCAD, STL files or descriptions of changes are helpful.
- Fork it, and make pull requests - again, documentation improvements are every bit as useful as revised OpenSCAD files.
- Things in need of attention are currently described in issues so have a look there if you'd like to work on something but aren't sure what.
We provide a brief tutorial on how to design an insert which adapts any part to the UC2 system. Please find it here on how to design an insert in Inventor).
REMARK: All files have been designed using Autodesk Inventor 2019 (EDUCATION)
----- THIS SECTION NEEDS REVISION ------- This project is open-source and is released under the CERN open hardware license. Our aim is to make the kits commercially available. We encourage everyone who is using our Toolbox to share their results and ideas, so that the Toolbox keeps improving. It should serve as a easy-to-use and easy-to-access general purpose building block solution for the area of STEAM education. All the design files are general for free, but we would like to hear how it is going.
You're free to fork the project and enhance it. If you have any suggestions to improve it or add any additional functions make a pull-request or file an issue.
Please find the type of licenses here
This is the mess you can end up during Fourier-optics session using UC2 components. Pure-fun! :-)
If you find this project useful, please like this repository and cite the webpage! :-)
B. Diederich, R. Lachmann, B. Marsikova, E. Bingöl, S. Carlstedt, X. Uwurukundo, H. Wang, R. Heintzmann, Lichtwerkstatt, IPHT Jena, HHMI Janelia Farm, UiO Oslo, NorMic and many more