PiAutoStage: An Open-Source 3D Printed Tool for the Automatic Collection of High-Resolution Microscope Imagery

Abstract

We have created an open-source 3D printable microscope automatic stage and integrated camera system capable of providing a means for imaging microscope slides—the PiAutoStage. The PiAutoStage was developed to interface with the high-quality optics of existing microscopes by creating an adaptable system that can be used in conjunction with a range of microscope configurations. The PiAutoStage automatically captures the entire area of a microscope slide in a series of overlapping high-resolution images, which can then be stitched into a single panoramic image. We have demonstrated the utility of the PiAutoStage when attached to a transmitted light microscope by creating high-fidelity image stacks of rock specimens in plane polarized and cross-polarized light. We have shown that the PiAutoStage is compatible with microscopes that do not currently have a camera attachment by using two different optical trains within the same microscope: one set of imagery collected through the photography tube of a trinocular microscope, and a second set through a camera mounted to an ocular. We furthermore establish the broad adaptability of the PiAutoStage system by attaching it to a reflected light stereo dissection microscope to capture images of microfossils. We discuss strategies for the online delivery of these large-sized images in a data efficient manner through the application of tiled imagery and open-source Java-based web viewers. The low cost of the PiAutoStage system, combined with the data-efficient mechanisms of online delivery make this system an important tool in promoting the universal accessibility of high-resolution microscope imagery.