Science Stack: Tools Within Reach

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Arduino is a producer of microcontrollers—a key building block of other tools—and a catalyst for the open hardware and maker movements.

“Arduino, for many people, presented a door to a whole new world. There, the software had physical implications and could cause a change or trigger events out of the digital realm.”

— Creative Tim

Project in India

Researchers from VR Siddartha Engineering College created a virtual telepresence robot to observe remote locations inaccessible to humans.

Ready To Use

Plantower is an accessible building block for extremely low-cost air quality sensors that broaden who can participate in environmental monitoring.

“...a citizen science movement takes root as thousands of low-cost air quality sensors are installed in homes and backyards around the world...”

— Perry Brissette

Project in London

A Financial Times investigation discovered that air pollution on the Tube is as much as 10 times above health guidelines.

Ready To Use

RepRap is the first low-cost, open source, self-replicating 3D printer—meaning it can print a copy of itself.

“The RepRap project started everything.... It didn’t matter whether you had a printer or not, you could start working on an aspect of it and contribute to the online community.”

— Ultimaker

Project in Nicaragua

Michigan Tech researchers helped bring open-source 3D printing to Nicaragua and print prosthetics on demand.

Assembly Required

Makerbot was one of the first low-cost desktop printers, and is still one of the most popular proprietary 3D printers today.

“By shrinking the technology inside hulking, $100,000-plus machines into affordable desktop boxes, MakerBot had kicked off a revolution in 3D printing.”

— Wired

Project in California

A solar tech startup uses the MakerBot to create optimized testing rigs for cutting-edge solar panel technology.

Ready To Use

Foldscope is an ultra-affordable, portable paper microscope used in classrooms and fieldwork sites worldwide.

“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is to make people curious.... Our ambition is that every kid should be able to carry a microscope in their pocket.”

— The Atlantic

Project in Mongolia

A farmer used Foldscope to convince others to boil or pasteurize their milk, showing that something called “bacteria” existed.

Assembly Required

OpenFlexure is a low-cost, 3D printed microscope with high resolution mechanism and the resolution of a professional microscope.

“These resources are making advanced diagnostics accessible even in resource-poor regions that lack trained technicians, cold storage and reliable power.”

— Nature Portfolio

Project in Tanzania

OpenFlexure microscopes undergo trials for use in malaria diagnosis.

Build From Scratch

PyCubed is a DIY satellite for low earth orbit that is entirely programmable in Python, a versatile and easy-to-use programming language.

“Going forward, [PyCubed] provides NASA a simple, low-cost platform for future technology demonstration needs.”

— NASA

Project in outer space

The V-R3x mission uses a swarm of PyCubed satellites to explore how to communicate and navigate multiple spacecraft autonomously.

Assembly Required

IOS TubeSat Kits are low-cost professional grade satellites that can be purchased as DIY kits and launched using the Interorbital's low-cost NEPTUNE Rocket launch service.

“Sometimes we feel like renegades or outcasts, building these rockets by ourselves.... We are out to show the world this can all be done at truly radically lower costs.”

— National Geographic

Project in Brazil

An IOS TubeSat satelite probe was assembled by middle school students and launched to the International Space Station.

Assembly Required

Quori is a socially interactive robot for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research that can be taken apart and customized to fit the needs of any lab.

“With Quori’s main role as as a teaching robot, its genderlessness can help provide a blank slate for human-robot interaction research....”

— University of Pennsylvania

Project in Pennsylvania

HRI researchers are hoping to reduce gender bias in the field of robotic designs

Other

Wearable Symptom Tracker helps individuals self-identify their bodily systems and monitor the spread of viral infections, such as Covid-19.

“[Wearable Symptom Tracker] is actually a revolutionary idea that can help enable entirely new classes of wearable devices...and thus has broader impacts beyond just this project.”

— UC San Diego

Project in California

UC San Diego engineers are developing Wearable Symptom Trackers to measure temperature and respiration—key indicators of COVID-19.

Other

OpenROV is an underwater exploration drone collaboratively developed using open source design.

“You can't protect what you don't understand...we've seen groups use the underwater drones to help educate fishing communities on the biology of the ecosystems they rely on.”

— National Geographic

Project in Mexico

A marine conservation organization in Mexico uses OpenRov devices to locate fish spawning sites where divers can't reach.

Assembly Required

Spotter is the largest privately-owned marine weather sensor network.

“[This is] an example of new, private-sector weather platforms that could help companies and governments improve forecasts.”

— The Washington Post

Project worldwide

Aqualink, an oceanography citizen science initiative, is dipsersing Spotters to indiviudals who deploy the units at endangered reef sites.

Ready To Use

Pocketlab is a sensor for STEM education designed to be ultra easy to use, making teaching and learning more accessible to those without technical backgrounds.

“The exciting thing about PocketLab Air is not just the sensor itself, but the ability to collaborate on global climate and air quality experiments.”

— Digital Trends

Project in Florida

Elementary students conducted experiments measuring air quality at their school as cars idled in lines for morning drop-off.

Assembly Required

PurpleAir is a low-cost sensor often used by citizen scientists to monitor air quality in local communities.

“You can’t give the government control over monitoring and enforcement.... Having this type of power in the public’s hands, it gives a check on the government.”

— The New York Times

Project in California

During the California wild fires, Bay Area residents monitored air quality themselves, crowdsourcing results across the region.

Assembly Required

AudioMoth is a sensor typically used to monitor biodiversity, but is so easy to build that it has been used for unexpected applications, such as measuring noise pollution.

“The hope is that open-source tech will make it cheap enough to gather data...to focus efforts to save endangered species and tackle the effects of climate change.”

— The Wall Street Journal

Project in California

UC Merced researchers are using AudioMoths and AI to automatically recognize and monitor bird calls.

Ready To Use

bGeigie is an open hardware radiation monitor developed in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

“[bGeigie] has gained a reputation for objectivity both in its data and it its commentary [and] is increasingly sought by journalists and others for fact-checking....”

— Journal of Radiological Protection

Project in Japan

Citizen scientists use bGeigie(Safecast) monitors to crowdsource radiation levels across Japan.

Ready To Use

Assembly Required

Build From Scratch

Flora is an open source microprocessor by Adafruit, an important open source company for hardware building blocks.

“Designers are accustomed to working with texture, color and form...but now electronics gives us another avenue of expression.”

— New York Times

Project in New York

A wearable device wirelessly transmits heart beats to a Flora receiver chip and visualizes them.

Ready To Use

Fieldkit is a customizable tool to help gather easy-to-share environmental data from the wild, enabling more people to participate in conservation.

“This includes people building FieldKit versions of their own [and] used in ways we don't anticipate.... It puts these tools in the hands of people doing environmental justice work or citizen science.”

— Forbes

Project in Cameroon

Researchers are deploying Fieldkits in the rainforest to study ecoystem changes and support local scientists and communities.

Assembly Required

OpenTrons is an automated pipetting machine that helps researchers save more time for analysis by avoiding tedious manual labwork.

“[OpenTrons] helps provide fast and accurate COVID-19 testing at a low cost to government agencies, hospitals, businesses and schools.”

— Pandemic Response Lab

Project in New York

Featuring OpenTrons units, the Pandemic Response Laboratory opened last year to help New York City quickly overcome COVID-19 testing delays.

Ready To Use

Open Enzyme Collection is an initiative enabling scientists to "locally" manufacture enzymes and reporter genes used in molecular biology research.

“We estimate that you can save at least 80–90% of the cost of an enzyme by producing your own.”

— Nature

Project in Chile

Sidestepping bureaucratic complications when importing, researchers use Open Enzymes to study invasive aquatic species and potato viruses.

Ready To Use

Raspberry Pi is an open source, single-board computer, originally created to teach computer science to young people.

“They might not look like much, but tiny Raspberry Pi computers could help society relearn what it means to be technically literate.”

— CNET

Project in the United States

During the pandemic, the Raspberry Pi Foundation ramped up production of chips that could be used in ventilators.

Ready To Use

Actifield is an automated device that measures animal movements, using open source and low-cost components.

“If you have the blueprint for a piece of equipment, you can understand how it works. You can repair your equipment if it breaks down and...adapt it to your local needs.”

— Nature

Project in Ghana

A researcher developed the low-cost Actifield to test for potential drug compounds that could modify behaviour in mice.

Ready To Use

Spikerbox is a low-cost bioamplifier that allows you to measure real-time electrical activity in the body.

“[Spikerbox] could revolutionize mental health research — and prevent others from experiencing depression.”

— OZY

Project in Puerto Rico

Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico use Spikerbox to study how brain impulses ‘talk’ to different parts of the body.

Assembly Required

LED Zappelin' is a low-cost microcontroller that addresses challenges in specialized microscopy for neuroscience research on color vision and optogenetics.

“[LED Zappelin's] low-cost and spectrum flexibility added to its accessible stimulation programming, makes it a favourable design compared to other available commercial solutions.”

— HardwareX

Project in UK

Researchers at the University of Sussex used LED Zappelin' to study the color vision of zebrafish retina.

Build From Scratch

SORT BY:

Encourages New Uses

Broadens User Communities

Promotes Co-Creation

Democratizes Ideas and Designs

$$$

$$$$

Compute

Measure

Build

Makerbot was one of the first low-cost desktop printers, and is still one of the most popular proprietary 3D printers today.

“By shrinking the technology inside hulking, $100,000-plus machines into affordable desktop boxes, MakerBot had kicked off a revolution in 3D printing.”

— Wired

Project in California

A solar tech startup uses the MakerBot to create optimized testing rigs for cutting-edge solar panel technology.

Ready To Use

RepRap is the first low-cost, open source, self-replicating 3D printer—meaning it can print a copy of itself.

“The RepRap project started everything.... It didn’t matter whether you had a printer or not, you could start working on an aspect of it and contribute to the online community.”

— Ultimaker

Project in Nicaragua

Michigan Tech researchers helped bring open-source 3D printing to Nicaragua and print prosthetics on demand.

Assembly Required

Open Enzyme Collection is an initiative enabling scientists to "locally" manufacture enzymes and reporter genes used in molecular biology research.

“We estimate that you can save at least 80–90% of the cost of an enzyme by producing your own.”

— Nature

Project in Chile

Sidestepping bureaucratic complications when importing, researchers use Open Enzymes to study invasive aquatic species and potato viruses.

Ready To Use

OpenROV is an underwater exploration drone collaboratively developed using open source design.

“You can't protect what you don't understand...we've seen groups use the underwater drones to help educate fishing communities on the biology of the ecosystems they rely on.”

— National Geographic

Project in Mexico

A marine conservation organization in Mexico uses OpenRov devices to locate fish spawning sites where divers can't reach.

Assembly Required

Arduino is a producer of microcontrollers—a key building block of other tools—and a catalyst for the open hardware and maker movements.

“Arduino, for many people, presented a door to a whole new world. There, the software had physical implications and could cause a change or trigger events out of the digital realm.”

— Creative Tim

Project in India

Researchers from VR Siddartha Engineering College created a virtual telepresence robot to observe remote locations inaccessible to humans.

Ready To Use

Flora is an open source microprocessor by Adafruit, an important open source company for hardware building blocks.

“Designers are accustomed to working with texture, color and form...but now electronics gives us another avenue of expression.”

— New York Times

Project in New York

A wearable device wirelessly transmits heart beats to a Flora receiver chip and visualizes them.

Ready To Use

LED Zappelin' is a low-cost microcontroller that addresses challenges in specialized microscopy for neuroscience research on color vision and optogenetics.

“[LED Zappelin's] low-cost and spectrum flexibility added to its accessible stimulation programming, makes it a favourable design compared to other available commercial solutions.”

— HardwareX

Project in UK

Researchers at the University of Sussex used LED Zappelin' to study the color vision of zebrafish retina.

Build From Scratch

Raspberry Pi is an open source, single-board computer, originally created to teach computer science to young people.

“They might not look like much, but tiny Raspberry Pi computers could help society relearn what it means to be technically literate.”

— CNET

Project in the United States

During the pandemic, the Raspberry Pi Foundation ramped up production of chips that could be used in ventilators.

Ready To Use

Foldscope is an ultra-affordable, portable paper microscope used in classrooms and fieldwork sites worldwide.

“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is to make people curious.... Our ambition is that every kid should be able to carry a microscope in their pocket.”

— The Atlantic

Project in Mongolia

A farmer used Foldscope to convince others to boil or pasteurize their milk, showing that something called “bacteria” existed.

Assembly Required

OpenFlexure is a low-cost, 3D printed microscope with high resolution mechanism and the resolution of a professional microscope.

“These resources are making advanced diagnostics accessible even in resource-poor regions that lack trained technicians, cold storage and reliable power.”

— Nature Portfolio

Project in Tanzania

OpenFlexure microscopes undergo trials for use in malaria diagnosis.

Build From Scratch

OpenTrons is an automated pipetting machine that helps researchers save more time for analysis by avoiding tedious manual labwork.

“[OpenTrons] helps provide fast and accurate COVID-19 testing at a low cost to government agencies, hospitals, businesses and schools.”

— Pandemic Response Lab

Project in New York

Featuring OpenTrons units, the Pandemic Response Laboratory opened last year to help New York City quickly overcome COVID-19 testing delays.

Ready To Use

Quori is a socially interactive robot for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research that can be taken apart and customized to fit the needs of any lab.

“With Quori’s main role as as a teaching robot, its genderlessness can help provide a blank slate for human-robot interaction research....”

— University of Pennsylvania

Project in Pennsylvania

HRI researchers are hoping to reduce gender bias in the field of robotic designs

Other

IOS TubeSat Kits are low-cost professional grade satellites that can be purchased as DIY kits and launched using the Interorbital's low-cost NEPTUNE Rocket launch service.

“Sometimes we feel like renegades or outcasts, building these rockets by ourselves.... We are out to show the world this can all be done at truly radically lower costs.”

— National Geographic

Project in Brazil

An IOS TubeSat satelite probe was assembled by middle school students and launched to the International Space Station.

Assembly Required

PyCubed is a DIY satellite for low earth orbit that is entirely programmable in Python, a versatile and easy-to-use programming language.

“Going forward, [PyCubed] provides NASA a simple, low-cost platform for future technology demonstration needs.”

— NASA

Project in outer space

The V-R3x mission uses a swarm of PyCubed satellites to explore how to communicate and navigate multiple spacecraft autonomously.

Assembly Required

Actifield is an automated device that measures animal movements, using open source and low-cost components.

“If you have the blueprint for a piece of equipment, you can understand how it works. You can repair your equipment if it breaks down and...adapt it to your local needs.”

— Nature

Project in Ghana

A researcher developed the low-cost Actifield to test for potential drug compounds that could modify behaviour in mice.

Ready To Use

AudioMoth is a sensor typically used to monitor biodiversity, but is so easy to build that it has been used for unexpected applications, such as measuring noise pollution.

“The hope is that open-source tech will make it cheap enough to gather data...to focus efforts to save endangered species and tackle the effects of climate change.”

— The Wall Street Journal

Project in California

UC Merced researchers are using AudioMoths and AI to automatically recognize and monitor bird calls.

Ready To Use

Fieldkit is a customizable tool to help gather easy-to-share environmental data from the wild, enabling more people to participate in conservation.

— Forbes

Project in Cameroon

Researchers are deploying Fieldkits in the rainforest to study ecoystem changes and support local scientists and communities.

Assembly Required

Plantower is an accessible building block for extremely low-cost air quality sensors that broaden who can participate in environmental monitoring.

“...a citizen science movement takes root as thousands of low-cost air quality sensors are installed in homes and backyards around the world...”

— Perry Brissette

Project in London

A Financial Times investigation discovered that air pollution on the Tube is as much as 10 times above health guidelines.

Ready To Use

Pocketlab is a sensor for STEM education designed to be ultra easy to use, making teaching and learning more accessible to those without technical backgrounds.

“The exciting thing about PocketLab Air is not just the sensor itself, but the ability to collaborate on global climate and air quality experiments.”

— Digital Trends

Project in Florida

Elementary students conducted experiments measuring air quality at their school as cars idled in lines for morning drop-off.

Assembly Required

PurpleAir is a low-cost sensor often used by citizen scientists to monitor air quality in local communities.

“You can’t give the government control over monitoring and enforcement.... Having this type of power in the public’s hands, it gives a check on the government.”

— The New York Times

Project in California

During the California wild fires, Bay Area residents monitored air quality themselves, crowdsourcing results across the region.

Assembly Required

Spikerbox is a low-cost bioamplifier that allows you to measure real-time electrical activity in the body.

“[Spikerbox] could revolutionize mental health research — and prevent others from experiencing depression.”

— OZY

Project in Puerto Rico

Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico use Spikerbox to study how brain impulses ‘talk’ to different parts of the body.

Assembly Required

Spotter is the largest privately-owned marine weather sensor network.

“[This is] an example of new, private-sector weather platforms that could help companies and governments improve forecasts.”

— The Washington Post

Project worldwide

Aqualink, an oceanography citizen science initiative, is dipsersing Spotters to indiviudals who deploy the units at endangered reef sites.

Ready To Use

Wearable Symptom Tracker helps individuals self-identify their bodily systems and monitor the spread of viral infections, such as Covid-19.

“[Wearable Symptom Tracker] is actually a revolutionary idea that can help enable entirely new classes of wearable devices...and thus has broader impacts beyond just this project.”

— UC San Diego

Project in California

UC San Diego engineers are developing Wearable Symptom Trackers to measure temperature and respiration—key indicators of COVID-19.

Other

bGeigie is an open hardware radiation monitor developed in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

“[bGeigie] has gained a reputation for objectivity both in its data and it its commentary [and] is increasingly sought by journalists and others for fact-checking....”

— Journal of Radiological Protection

Project in Japan

Citizen scientists use bGeigie(Safecast) monitors to crowdsource radiation levels across Japan.

Ready To Use

Assembly Required

Build From Scratch

SORT BY:

Microcontroller

Sensor

3D printer

Microscope

Satellite

Robot

Drone

Biological Material

Open Documentation

Citizen Science Use

Open Process

Community Platform

Accessible Instructions

Technical Ease of Use

Modular Design

Open Data

Open License

Arduino is a producer of microcontrollers—a key building block of other tools—and a catalyst for the open hardware and maker movements.

“Arduino, for many people, presented a door to a whole new world. There, the software had physical implications and could cause a change or trigger events out of the digital realm.”

— Creative Tim

Project in India

Researchers from VR Siddartha Engineering College created a virtual telepresence robot to observe remote locations inaccessible to humans.

Ready To Use

Plantower is an accessible building block for extremely low-cost air quality sensors that broaden who can participate in environmental monitoring.

“...a citizen science movement takes root as thousands of low-cost air quality sensors are installed in homes and backyards around the world...”

— Perry Brissette

Project in London

A Financial Times investigation discovered that air pollution on the Tube is as much as 10 times above health guidelines.

Ready To Use

RepRap is the first low-cost, open source, self-replicating 3D printer—meaning it can print a copy of itself.

“The RepRap project started everything.... It didn’t matter whether you had a printer or not, you could start working on an aspect of it and contribute to the online community.”

— Ultimaker

Project in Nicaragua

Michigan Tech researchers helped bring open-source 3D printing to Nicaragua and print prosthetics on demand.

Assembly Required

Makerbot was one of the first low-cost desktop printers, and is still one of the most popular proprietary 3D printers today.

“By shrinking the technology inside hulking, $100,000-plus machines into affordable desktop boxes, MakerBot had kicked off a revolution in 3D printing.”

— Wired

Project in California

A solar tech startup uses the MakerBot to create optimized testing rigs for cutting-edge solar panel technology.

Ready To Use

Foldscope is an ultra-affordable, portable paper microscope used in classrooms and fieldwork sites worldwide.

“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is to make people curious.... Our ambition is that every kid should be able to carry a microscope in their pocket.”

— The Atlantic

Project in Mongolia

A farmer used Foldscope to convince others to boil or pasteurize their milk, showing that something called “bacteria” existed.

Assembly Required

OpenFlexure is a low-cost, 3D printed microscope with high resolution mechanism and the resolution of a professional microscope.

“These resources are making advanced diagnostics accessible even in resource-poor regions that lack trained technicians, cold storage and reliable power.”

— Nature Portfolio

Project in Tanzania

OpenFlexure microscopes undergo trials for use in malaria diagnosis.

Build From Scratch

PyCubed is a DIY satellite for low earth orbit that is entirely programmable in Python, a versatile and easy-to-use programming language.

“Going forward, [PyCubed] provides NASA a simple, low-cost platform for future technology demonstration needs.”

— NASA

Project in outer space

The V-R3x mission uses a swarm of PyCubed satellites to explore how to communicate and navigate multiple spacecraft autonomously.

Assembly Required

IOS TubeSat Kits are low-cost professional grade satellites that can be purchased as DIY kits and launched using the Interorbital's low-cost NEPTUNE Rocket launch service.

“Sometimes we feel like renegades or outcasts, building these rockets by ourselves.... We are out to show the world this can all be done at truly radically lower costs.”

— National Geographic

Project in Brazil

An IOS TubeSat satelite probe was assembled by middle school students and launched to the International Space Station.

Assembly Required

Quori is a socially interactive robot for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research that can be taken apart and customized to fit the needs of any lab.

“With Quori’s main role as as a teaching robot, its genderlessness can help provide a blank slate for human-robot interaction research....”

— University of Pennsylvania

Project in Pennsylvania

HRI researchers are hoping to reduce gender bias in the field of robotic designs

Other

Wearable Symptom Tracker helps individuals self-identify their bodily systems and monitor the spread of viral infections, such as Covid-19.

“[Wearable Symptom Tracker] is actually a revolutionary idea that can help enable entirely new classes of wearable devices...and thus has broader impacts beyond just this project.”

— UC San Diego

Project in California

UC San Diego engineers are developing Wearable Symptom Trackers to measure temperature and respiration—key indicators of COVID-19.

Other

OpenROV is an underwater exploration drone collaboratively developed using open source design.

“You can't protect what you don't understand...we've seen groups use the underwater drones to help educate fishing communities on the biology of the ecosystems they rely on.”

— National Geographic

Project in Mexico

A marine conservation organization in Mexico uses OpenRov devices to locate fish spawning sites where divers can't reach.

Assembly Required

Spotter is the largest privately-owned marine weather sensor network.

“[This is] an example of new, private-sector weather platforms that could help companies and governments improve forecasts.”

— The Washington Post

Project worldwide

Aqualink, an oceanography citizen science initiative, is dipsersing Spotters to indiviudals who deploy the units at endangered reef sites.

Ready To Use

Pocketlab is a sensor for STEM education designed to be ultra easy to use, making teaching and learning more accessible to those without technical backgrounds.

“The exciting thing about PocketLab Air is not just the sensor itself, but the ability to collaborate on global climate and air quality experiments.”

— Digital Trends

Project in Florida

Elementary students conducted experiments measuring air quality at their school as cars idled in lines for morning drop-off.

Assembly Required

PurpleAir is a low-cost sensor often used by citizen scientists to monitor air quality in local communities.

“You can’t give the government control over monitoring and enforcement.... Having this type of power in the public’s hands, it gives a check on the government.”

— The New York Times

Project in California

During the California wild fires, Bay Area residents monitored air quality themselves, crowdsourcing results across the region.

Assembly Required

AudioMoth is a sensor typically used to monitor biodiversity, but is so easy to build that it has been used for unexpected applications, such as measuring noise pollution.

“The hope is that open-source tech will make it cheap enough to gather data...to focus efforts to save endangered species and tackle the effects of climate change.”

— The Wall Street Journal

Project in California

UC Merced researchers are using AudioMoths and AI to automatically recognize and monitor bird calls.

Ready To Use

bGeigie is an open hardware radiation monitor developed in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

“[bGeigie] has gained a reputation for objectivity both in its data and it its commentary [and] is increasingly sought by journalists and others for fact-checking....”

— Journal of Radiological Protection

Project in Japan

Citizen scientists use bGeigie(Safecast) monitors to crowdsource radiation levels across Japan.

Ready To Use

Assembly Required

Build From Scratch

Flora is an open source microprocessor by Adafruit, an important open source company for hardware building blocks.

“Designers are accustomed to working with texture, color and form...but now electronics gives us another avenue of expression.”

— New York Times

Project in New York

A wearable device wirelessly transmits heart beats to a Flora receiver chip and visualizes them.

Ready To Use

Fieldkit is a customizable tool to help gather easy-to-share environmental data from the wild, enabling more people to participate in conservation.

— Forbes

Project in Cameroon

Researchers are deploying Fieldkits in the rainforest to study ecoystem changes and support local scientists and communities.

Assembly Required

OpenTrons is an automated pipetting machine that helps researchers save more time for analysis by avoiding tedious manual labwork.

“[OpenTrons] helps provide fast and accurate COVID-19 testing at a low cost to government agencies, hospitals, businesses and schools.”

— Pandemic Response Lab

Project in New York

Featuring OpenTrons units, the Pandemic Response Laboratory opened last year to help New York City quickly overcome COVID-19 testing delays.

Ready To Use

Open Enzyme Collection is an initiative enabling scientists to "locally" manufacture enzymes and reporter genes used in molecular biology research.

“We estimate that you can save at least 80–90% of the cost of an enzyme by producing your own.”

— Nature

Project in Chile

Sidestepping bureaucratic complications when importing, researchers use Open Enzymes to study invasive aquatic species and potato viruses.

Ready To Use

Raspberry Pi is an open source, single-board computer, originally created to teach computer science to young people.

“They might not look like much, but tiny Raspberry Pi computers could help society relearn what it means to be technically literate.”

— CNET

Project in the United States

During the pandemic, the Raspberry Pi Foundation ramped up production of chips that could be used in ventilators.

Ready To Use

Actifield is an automated device that measures animal movements, using open source and low-cost components.

“If you have the blueprint for a piece of equipment, you can understand how it works. You can repair your equipment if it breaks down and...adapt it to your local needs.”

— Nature

Project in Ghana

A researcher developed the low-cost Actifield to test for potential drug compounds that could modify behaviour in mice.

Ready To Use

Spikerbox is a low-cost bioamplifier that allows you to measure real-time electrical activity in the body.

“[Spikerbox] could revolutionize mental health research — and prevent others from experiencing depression.”

— OZY

Project in Puerto Rico

Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico use Spikerbox to study how brain impulses ‘talk’ to different parts of the body.

Assembly Required

LED Zappelin' is a low-cost microcontroller that addresses challenges in specialized microscopy for neuroscience research on color vision and optogenetics.

“[LED Zappelin's] low-cost and spectrum flexibility added to its accessible stimulation programming, makes it a favourable design compared to other available commercial solutions.”

— HardwareX

Project in UK

Researchers at the University of Sussex used LED Zappelin' to study the color vision of zebrafish retina.

Build From Scratch

Swipe for different tools

Significance

Encourages New Uses

Broadens User Communities

Promotes Co-Creation

Democratizes Ideas and Designs

Price

$$$

$$$$

Use

Compute

Measure

Build

Type

Microcontroller

Sensor

3D printer

Microscope

Satellite

Robot

Drone

Biological Material

Openness

Open Documentation

Citizen Science Use

Open Process

Community Platform

Accessible Instructions

Technical Ease of Use

Modular Design

Open Data

Open License

Sort by:

ABOUT

Low-cost and open source tools—the physical tools used to generate data and make new discoveries—are transforming science.

Low-cost tools are significantly less expensive than the status quo, while open source tools are “physical objects whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design” (OSHWA).

Science Stack: Tools within Reach demonstrates the diversity of tools in regards to research topic, cost, openness, and beyond, while highlighting how these tools are changing science and benefitting society.

Science Stack: Tools within Reach is part of THING Tank, an initiative of the Wilson Center’s Science and Technology Innovation Program that is funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The content of this infographic was created by Wilson Center researchers with support from Pentagram, who designed and developed this site.

Fieldkit is a customizable tool to help gather easy-to-share environmental data from the wild, enabling more people to participate in conservation.

— Forbes

Project in Cameroon

Researchers are deploying Fieldkits in the rainforest to study ecoystem changes and support local scientists and communities.

Assembly Required

Why do these tools impact science?

Drawing on taxonomies featured in Bovosin & Mies (2018) and Parker & Novak (2020), we have outlined a number of key features (e.g. “open documentation”) that enable low-cost and open source tools to broaden participation and create information. These features enable broader impact (e.g. encourages new uses”).

Each card features on tool, and highlights a specific feature per tool to show the diversity of ways the tools can impact science and society.

SIGNIFICANCE

Encourages New Uses

The tool has features that make it easy to modify the tool’s design. This might be a “building block” tool that leads to a wide range of innovations.

Broadens User Communities

Features of the tool or the data it produces are accessible in a way that broaden who can participate in science, like through citizen science, or through research in educational settings.

Promotes Co-Creation

The tools are supported by physical or digital infrastructures, like online communities, that enable people to work together on projects and share ideas.

Democratizes Ideas and Designs

The documentation of the tool is accessible, complete, and appropriately licensed, so that anyone can build or study the tool.

TYPES OF OPENNESS

Encourages New Uses

Open Documentation

Access to original design files or blueprints enables people to study how the design of the tool has changed over time. This can give users background knowledge to help customize their tools.

Modular Design

These tools have parts that are interchangeable with other parts. This enables users to reconfigure their tools to better fit the needs and applications of their work.

Open License

Open licenses are legal frameworks that encourage people to modify, share, and build tools and blueprints. This encourages participatory innovation and design by providing a legal and normative basis for contribution.

Broadens User Communities

Citizen Science Use

Some tools are used in citizen science: the involvement of the public in scientific research–whether community-driven research or global investigations.

Open Data

Tools can produce open data, data that can be freely used, re-used, and redistributed by anyone–subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share alike.

Technical Ease of Use

Tools that are designed to be so easy to build or use that participation is broadened to entirely new group of users.

Promotes Co-Creation

Open Process

An open process includes infrastructure that encourages participation in the development, maintenance, or improvement of the tool. This can include support for version control, issue tracking systems, and contribution guides, which are infrastructure and instruction for collaboration and tool development.

Community Platform

Online platforms centered around tools enables users to share project ideas, share data, troubleshoot problems, and create a sense of community.

Democratizes Ideas and Designs

Accessible Instructions

Access to bill of materials (the list of parts needed to build the tool), and assembly instructions, which provide guidance on how to build a tool or provide users with key information to study how the tool is built.

Open License

Open licenses are legal frameworks that encourage people to modify, share, and build tools and documentation. This encourages participatory innovation and design by providing a legal and normative basis for contribution.

Open Documentation

Access to original design files or blueprints enables people to study how the design of the tool has changed over time. This can give users background knowledge to help customize their tools.

Open Data

Tools can produce open data, data that can be freely used, re-used, and redistributed by anyone–subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share alike.