Smart mobile microscopy: towards fully-automated digitization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a smart mobile microscope system that automates specimen digitization by integrating automated control and image processing techniques, reducing the need for qualified operators and enhancing mobile microscopy capabilities.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel fully-automated mobile microscopy system combining automated setup, auto-focusing, filtering, and focus-stacking within a mobile platform.

Findings

Successful implementation of automated digitization process

Enhanced image quality through focus-stacking techniques

Reduced operator dependency in mobile microscopy

Abstract

Mobile microscopy is a newly formed field that emerged from a combination of optical microscopy capabilities and spread, functionality, and ever-increasing computing resources of mobile devices. Despite the idea of creating a system that would successfully merge a microscope, numerous computer vision methods, and a mobile device is regularly examined, the resulting implementations still require the presence of a qualified operator to control specimen digitization. In this paper, we address the task of surpassing this constraint and present a ``smart'' mobile microscope concept aimed at automatic digitization of the most valuable visual information about the specimen. We perform this through combining automated microscope setup control and classic techniques such as auto-focusing, in-focus filtering, and focus-stacking -- adapted and optimized as parts of a mobile cross-platform library.