I powered though the design of the manual version of the scope so we would have a more stable platform to try software changes on. The base came out great and I filled it with crushed sea shells for weight. The overall look and feel is nice and I'm quite happy with how it has turned out. This current build has already shown the team many areas to improve on. We are looking at getting a few microscope slides to test and also trying different lens holders. The rotating lens may be swapped for a easy to use "lens cartridge". Many problems have raised that cause minor gaps between the glass beads and the pi camera.

A few things to change include a redesign of the platform, and Pi mounts. I found the Pi mounts to be nice however we may need to change to a mount that holds a bit of plastic sheet that the Pi then mounts to. I need the additional room on the plastic for DC-DC converters and stepper drivers for the auto scanning version.

I was also thinking of adding a additional solar board to the power circuitry. This would allow a medium sized solar panel to charge the scope. Ok so here is the hypothetical future scenario your out backpacking with your friends and you are deep in the wilderness. You come across a stream and are unsure if it is drinkable. You ran out of water tablets a few days ago. So you break out your trusty solar powered pi microscope. You have a quick look at the water to see just what is in it.

No pollution, or to much algae!

Thank goodness the scope verifies that the water is clean. Your hiking group is able to drink the water without to much worry.