IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00737

Alexi Switz , Anamika Prasad

{"title":"MicroStretch: Microstretcher designed for live imaging on microscopic stages","authors":"Alexi Switz , Anamika Prasad","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00737","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00737","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Deformation response evaluation is essential for understanding material behavior, providing insight into their suitability across many fields, such as biomechanics, materials science, and other engineering disciplines. Specialized applications in biomedical and soft materials demand miniaturization for testing under a microscope or spectroscopic stages. The current commercial machines on the market are often large, expensive, or heavy, making them difficult to use for specific needs. This hardware addresses this need by developing a cost-effective, miniature, and programmable system that can be tailored to individual lab requirements to fit multiple microscopic stages. By utilizing a bipolar stepper motor attached to a lead screw and sliding linear stage, programmed and controlled by an Arduino microcontroller, the system can apply specialized stretch under uniaxial static or cyclic loading. The developed system can be assembled for less than $100, making cost-effectiveness a central focus of this development. The device performance was validated using a variety of samples and microscope tests, with sample deformation captured in real time. The device is compatible with live imaging on microscopic stages, accommodating specialized research needs across applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00737"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Rooted Soil Shear Apparatus: A low-cost, direct shear apparatus for measuring the influence of plant roots on soil shear strength 根土剪切仪：一种低成本的直接剪切仪，用于测量植物根系对土壤抗剪强度的影响

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00726

Gianmario Sorrentino, Gerald Innocent Otim, Alena Zhelezova, Irene Rocchi

引用次数: 0

A multi-client web platform for telemetry of the mechanical properties of material 一个用于材料力学性能遥测的多客户端网络平台

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-10 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00741

Oleg Ivanov, Volodymyr Shulgin, Nataliia Popovych, Liudmyla Bondar

{"title":"A multi-client web platform for telemetry of the mechanical properties of material","authors":"Oleg Ivanov, Volodymyr Shulgin, Nataliia Popovych, Liudmyla Bondar","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00741","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00741","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a multi-client web platform for telemetry of mechanical property testing, built around an existing tensile testing machine as an approach to its modernization. Extension and force measurements are performed using potentiometers with analog outputs connected to a 24-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADS1256) integrated with a Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer. The communication module enables data acquisition and timing, the organization of a wireless Wi-Fi network, the operation of web and DNS servers, and full-duplex information exchange via the WebSocket protocol.</div><div>A specially developed web application with a graphical user interface allows researchers to observe the “force–extension” curve and numerical values in real time on personal digital devices without installing specialized software. The platform supports simultaneous multi-client access, which increases the accessibility and convenience of experimental research.</div><div>Validation experiments on reinforcing steel confirmed stable platform performance at a data acquisition frequency of 15 Hz with up to 15 simultaneous client connections. The measurement accuracy was within ± 1 % for both force and extension, meeting ISO 6892–1 requirements. The proposed solution provides an affordable and flexible tool for scientific and educational purposes, enhancing the informativeness and accuracy of experimental tests while offering a practical pathway for upgrading conventional tensile testing machines.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00741"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145977309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

CAN-DAQ: An open-source, cost-effective data capture device and software for automotive research CAN-DAQ：用于汽车研究的开源、经济高效的数据采集设备和软件

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-02 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00743

Anuj Verma, Chandram Millon Dutta, Aritra Ghosh, Sakshin M. Kanchibail, Sneha Harish, Rishvanth S.K., Shaurya Chandra, Siddharth Das, Selvakumar K.

{"title":"CAN-DAQ: An open-source, cost-effective data capture device and software for automotive research","authors":"Anuj Verma, Chandram Millon Dutta, Aritra Ghosh, Sakshin M. Kanchibail, Sneha Harish, Rishvanth S.K., Shaurya Chandra, Siddharth Das, Selvakumar K.","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00743","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00743","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Modern systems, from vehicles to industrial testbenches, generate vast amounts of CAN bus data, yet researchers and developers lack affordable, open-source tools for its capture and analysis. While commercial tools are cost-prohibitive and existing open-source options often lack integrated hardware or mature software, acquiring this data is essential for subsystem validation (such as powertrains, safety systems, and sensors), ECU development, and network security analysis, with real-time graphing providing immediate insight. We present CAN-DAQ, a complete hardware–software platform that bridges this gap, matching the core features of commercial systems at a fraction of the cost. It combines an ESP32-based hardware interface with a flexible Python-based software and SDK, featuring high-resolution real-time visualization and a robust SQL backend. CAN-DAQ supports all classic CAN baud rates from 25 kbps to 1 Mbps and achieves a maximum sampling frequency of 1 kHz, reliably capturing 1000 CAN frames per second. As a fully open-source solution, it provides a foundation for users to build custom real-time data analytics applications. The system’s effectiveness was validated through comprehensive testing of its data reception, transmission, and sampling capabilities, demonstrating reliable operation against commercial-grade automotive CAN interfaces.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00743"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Low-cost solar-powered urban soundscape sensor 低成本太阳能城市声景传感器

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-28 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00753

Lion Cassens , Maarten Kroesen , Simeon Calvert , Sander van Cranenburgh

{"title":"Low-cost solar-powered urban soundscape sensor","authors":"Lion Cassens , Maarten Kroesen , Simeon Calvert , Sander van Cranenburgh","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00753","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00753","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Noise pollution negatively affects health and well-being, making its monitoring important for effective mitigation strategies. Sensor systems such as sound level meters have long been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, dependence on grid power, restricted metrics beyond loudness, and high costs per unit limit current solutions. This paper presents an open hardware, off-grid sound sensor to measure loudness and complementary noise metrics. The sensor detects eleven common urban sound events, calculates acoustic sharpness, and the intermittency ratio of the acoustic environment. The sensor is based on an ESP32-S3 microcontroller on a customized printed circuit board, optimized to address the current limitations. The board includes a battery management circuit for solar charging, a real-time clock for accurate time keeping, and supports LoRaWAN to send aggregated metrics. The latter allows remote monitoring, while more detailed metrics are stored on a microSD card. A solar panel and up to two 18650 Li-Ion or LiFePo4 batteries allow the sensor to be deployed independently of mains power. The open hardware is accompanied by open firmware, which has been organized into multiple components to allow easy changes and extensions for other use cases. A lab validation showed a deviation below 2 dB for a 1 kHz test tone compared to a calibrated sound level meter.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00753"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147395504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A simple prototype for assessing plant cold hardiness with differential thermal analysis 用差热分析评估植物抗寒性的简单原型

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00749

John R. Butnor

{"title":"A simple prototype for assessing plant cold hardiness with differential thermal analysis","authors":"John R. Butnor","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Differential thermal analysis (DTA) is a laboratory technique used to assess cold tolerance of plant tissue by detecting low temperature exotherms released when intracellular water freezes and cells are damaged. Measurements are made by placing samples on thermoelectric modules (TEMs) in a programmable freezer, slowly reducing the temperature, and detecting the latent heat of fusion released when intracellular water undergoes a phase change from liquid to solid. TEMs are solid-state Peltier devices that are commonly used for heating or cooling of electronics depending on the direction of the applied electrical current. In their quiescent state, they are very effective heat flux sensors that can be used to detect minute changes in temperature. Configurations that multiplex many TEMs for DTA have been used for several decades to assess cold tolerance, but the details of how they are constructed and programmed are limited. Here I present a simple prototype for assessing plant cold hardiness with DTA using a legacy datalogger and TEMs as a proof of concept. By using single-ended voltage measurements to monitor the TEMs, the number of samples which can be monitored can be maximized, thereby reducing the need for multiplexers. This prototype demonstrates that DTA can be accessible to researchers using basic dataloggers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00749"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Foehn: An open-hardware asynchronous scheduling hub for high-throughput liquid-handling workflow Foehn：用于高吞吐量液体处理工作流的开放硬件异步调度中心

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00748

Yueyang Gao , Jacob Danks , Simon Dawes , Maximilian O. Besenhard

{"title":"Foehn: An open-hardware asynchronous scheduling hub for high-throughput liquid-handling workflow","authors":"Yueyang Gao , Jacob Danks , Simon Dawes , Maximilian O. Besenhard","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00748","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2026.e00748","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Growing demand for complex and efficient high-throughput experimentation is accelerating laboratory automation, yet liquid-handling robots, which are central to these workflows, remain constrained by sequential operations that limit scalability. To address this bottleneck, an asynchronous scheduling hub system, named Foehn, was developed to enable concurrent and coordinated control of multiple experimental modules within a robotic workstation. The Foehn integrates open-source hardware based on the Arduino microcontroller with a Python-based graphical user interface, forming a flexible and cost-effective control architecture. Besides, it enables asynchronous, multi-threaded operation through standardized serial protocols, managing communication between the liquid-handling robot and peripheral modules such as pumps and magnetic stirrers. Validation tests confirmed stable voltage output from H-bridge drivers, achieving a high pulse-width modulation control efficiency of 87.6%. The integrated Foehn system successfully executed concurrent pumping and stirring tasks while the liquid-handling robot performed pipetting and labware-moving, demonstrating excellent synchronization and operational stability across hardware layers. Combining modular design, open-source accessibility, and precise digital control, the Foehn system provides a scalable foundation for high-throughput automation and holds strong potential to accelerate research in chemistry, biology, and materials science by bridging benchtop setups with next-generation robotic laboratories.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00748"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146188384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Tiny-T: A small-scale demonstration tank for real-time wave energy control Tiny-T：用于实时波浪能控制的小型示范水箱

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00733

Pedro Fornaro , Jacopo Ramello , Facundo Daniel Mosquera , Giuseppe Giorgi , John Vincent Ringwood

引用次数: 0

OpenPore: A low-cost, portable, battery-powered exponential decay pulse generator for electroporation OpenPore：一种低成本、便携、电池供电的电穿孔指数衰减脉冲发生器

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-14 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00730

Thomas Nesmith , Gagan D. Gupta , Darius G. Rackus

引用次数: 0

Low-cost oscillating sieving shaker machine for granulometry analysis in food science 食品科学中用于粒度分析的低成本振荡筛分摇床

IF 2.1

HardwareX Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-21 DOI: 10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00736

Juan Carlos Núñez Dorantes, Mario Luna Flores, José Roberto Grande Ramírez, Verónica Flores Sánchez, Jonathan Josue Cid Galiot, José Ernesto Domínguez Herrera

{"title":"Low-cost oscillating sieving shaker machine for granulometry analysis in food science","authors":"Juan Carlos Núñez Dorantes, Mario Luna Flores, José Roberto Grande Ramírez, Verónica Flores Sánchez, Jonathan Josue Cid Galiot, José Ernesto Domínguez Herrera","doi":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00736","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ohx.2025.e00736","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article presents the design, fabrication, and validation of a low-cost oscillating sieving shaker machine developed for laboratory-scale granulometric analysis of powdered and solid food materials. The system integrates 3D-printed PLA components, an aluminum modular frame, and a dual gear-motor mechanism that generates controlled oscillatory motion for particle size classification. Designed under open-source and affordability principles, the device was constructed using locally available materials and standard FDM-printing parameters. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of critical components printed in PLA, PETG, and ABS confirmed safe elastic behavior under a representative 5 kg load, with stresses below 21 MPa and displacements under 1.7mm. A thermal-impact study established a linear correlation between load, motor current, and temperature (R<sup>2</sup> ≈ 0.99), with a maximum temperature of 28.8 °C—well below the glass-transition limits of PLA and PETG—ensuring thermally stable operation. Performance tests performed according to ASTM C136/C136M-19 on soy lecithin, potato starch, and ascorbic acid confirmed accurate and reproducible particle-size distributions consistent with literature values. The total fabrication cost of USD 143.78 represents a significant reduction compared to commercial shakers (USD 2,800–3,700). This work validates an open-source, cost-effective, and reproducible device suitable for educational and research laboratories requiring reliable granulometric control in food powder analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":37503,"journal":{"name":"HardwareX","volume":"25 ","pages":"Article e00736"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145939422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

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