Design of a low-cost and fully automated digital microscope system

Microscopes are indispensable devices of laboratories. They are widely used in industry and science, such as medicine, geology, biology, chemistry and so on. Thanks to the developing technology, manual microscopes are leaving their place to automatic systems. However, automatic microscopy systems are difficult to obtain due to their high costs. The best way to circumvent this problem is to reduce device costs as much as possible. Based on this idea, a fully automated digital microscope system (FADMS) has been proposed as a low-cost prototype. The FADMS can scan and autofocus for various microscopic samples. In addition, it can be controlled over the internet thanks to a developed software and can store scanned microscopic images. The total cost of the developed system is around 2500 US dollars. In experimental studies, mechanical motion sensitivity and focusing tests of the FADMS were performed. Five different methods were tested on peripheral blood smear images for autofocus. According to the results obtained based on six different measurement criteria, Brenner's and Geusebroek's method showed the best performance. In positioning tests for the mechanical stage (X and Y axes), the motors in the driving system were moved forward and backward for a distance of 100 mu m. The results obtained showed a deviation of 2.6 mu m for the X-axis and 3.6 mu m for the Y-axis. Experimental results show that micron-sized biological cells can be observed in detail. The FADMS has been designed in a modular structure that allows it to be replaced with lighting, optical system and imaging device alternatives. In terms of performance/cost ratio, the FADMS is attractive for high-throughput microscopy applications ranging from digital pathology to health screening in low-income countries and is considered to be an alternative solution for many industries.