NeuroScopia: smart optical imaging solution for on-site applications

Abstract Microscopes are indispensable tools in research laboratories, educational institutions, and diagnostic centers. Despite the rapid technological advancements in scientific research, optical microscopy remains a cornerstone due to its non-invasive nature and extensive applications, including live-cell imaging, neuroscience, medical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. Over time, significant advancements have been made in optical microscopy, focusing on improving efficiency, integrating smart technologies, and automating traditionally manual tasks. However, the integration of these functionalities has often resulted in increasingly complex and bulky hardware, restricting their application to controlled laboratory environments and thereby limiting their practicality for on-site research, fieldwork, educational outreach, and other real-world applications. Recently, 3D printing technology has emerged as a versatile and flexible method capable of producing highly customized systems and components for tailored optical microscopy solutions. This research article presents a compact, 3D-printed, modular, and cost-effective system containing a fully automated slide-scanning stage. The system is energy efficient, and its modular design allows easy customization. It features an integrated camera that captures images during slide scanning and a user-friendly interface that allows users to define the scanning area and magnification via touchscreen or physical buttons. Based on this information, dependent parameters are automatically calculated to complete the task without requiring additional information from the user, adding to the system’s user-friendliness. The system utilizes a Raspberry Pi and Arduino Mega in a master-slave configuration, providing a stable workflow and a computational framework designed to support future AI and IoT functionalities integration through software-level updates, without requiring hardware modifications. Owing to its low cost, portability, and adaptability, this 3D-printed microscopy system offers a valuable solution for applications in research, diagnostics, education, and field-based operations, where compactness, automation, and accessibility are crucial.