From optical concept to working data
— in hours, for everyone.
A modular platform to configure, simulate, and build custom optical systems. One standardized cube interface — from rapid prototyping to production.
I need to prototype fast
FRAME: a fully motorized, modular microscope platform. Configure online, validate with ray tracing, swap imaging modes in seconds. From concept to data in days.
Explore FRAME →Makers & ResearchI want to build & prototype
An open platform for PhD students, makers, R&D teams, and startups. Prototype custom optical setups, contribute to the community, and integrate with your tools.
Explore the Open Platform →EducationI want to teach optics
Hands-on kits for classrooms, universities, and workshops. Students build real microscopes from modular cubes and understand optics by doing.
Explore Discovery Line →Partners
One cube. Infinite microscopes.
Every openUC2 system is built from the same standardized building block: the UC2 cube. Each cube holds one optical component — a lens, mirror, LED, camera, or filter. Arrange them on a grid, and you have a microscope.
From optical principle to working instrument
The UC2 cube is a 50x50 mm standardized interface. Each cube holds exactly one optical element — a lens, a mirror, a beamsplitter, an LED, or a camera. Cubes connect magnetically on a baseplate grid, creating any optical path you can imagine.
This is the same principle at every scale:
In the classroom: Students snap cubes together to build a simple microscope and see how lenses form images.
In the lab: A PhD student adds a dichroic cube and a laser cube to build a fluorescence path, tests it, and iterates.
In production: The FRAME microscope houses cubes inside a rigid motorized stage — same optics, industrial-grade stability.
Cubify your optical design
Take any optical setup — a fluorescence microscope, a light-sheet system, a Michelson interferometer — and break it into standardized cube modules. Each cube maps to one component in your beam path.
This isn't just a teaching trick. It's a design methodology that makes optical prototyping as fast as rearranging blocks. Change your dichroic? Swap one cube. Add a second camera? Add one cube. Move from brightfield to phase contrast? Rearrange the grid.
Every cube-based prototype has a digital twin. Validate optically with ray tracing before building. Scale to CNC-machined production parts without redesign.
Three paths, one platform
Whether you're teaching, researching, or deploying — the cube system grows with you.
FRAME — Automated Microscope
A fully motorized XYZ scanning microscope built on UC2 cube architecture. Sub-micrometer precision, multi-channel fluorescence, browser-based control, REST API, and open-source software. Swap optical modules without realignment.
Who it's for: Research labs, core facilities, diagnostics R&D, biotech companies.
Contact for quoteExplore FRAME
Open Platform
The full open-source ecosystem: 3D-printable cube designs, electronics schematics, firmware (ESP32), and ImSwitch software. Build your own microscope from scratch, customize every component, and share your designs with the community.
Who it's for: PhD students, optics researchers, hardware startups, biohackers.
Discovery Line
Modular educational kits for teaching optics, microscopy, and imaging. Start with the CoreBox (analog optics), add electronics, upgrade to infinity-corrected systems, or explore quantum optics with the QBox.
Who it's for: Schools, universities, maker spaces, workshops, science outreach.
Explore DiscoveryWhat you can image
Real results from openUC2 systems
Built with openUC2
Real projects, real results — from labs and R&D teams worldwide
Funded by
Supported by leading European research funding programs.
Not sure where to start?
Tell us what you want to image and we'll help you find the right configuration.