Robotic microscope counting and photographing the smallest marine organisms The Askö laboratory is being equipped with an Imaging FlowCytobot, an autonomous, submersible microscope that can capture detailed images of the sea's phytoplankton communities. "When we’re done, you will be able to take it apart and put it back together, know when something is wrong, and, if necessary, repair it yourselves," says Thomas Fougere from McLane Research Laboratories, who will teach the research team from the Baltic Sea Centre how the new robotic microscope works. He removes the housing – a steel pressure chamber that allows the microscope to be submerged to a maximum depth of 40 metres. The hands-on learning begins with lifting the instrument. It is about one metre long and with the housing it weighs over 30 kilograms. An Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) is an automatic microscope designed to continuously sample seawater, detect and count plankton cells, and take high-resolution images. The instrument can be connected to machine learning–based software in order to automatically classify plankton images. The technology allows researchers to observe and quantify plankton communities with unprecedented temporal resolution. It is undeniably impressive, and the researchers are eager to see what this instrument will enable them to discover. Facts: Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) - The instrument is a submersible plankton microscope that can be configurated to autonomously draw in seawater, count and photograph cells. It can be connected to software that can be trained for machine learnt image recognition. - The microscope can take up to 30,000 images per hour. - Its optics are optimized for high-resolution images of particles sized 10-150 micrometres. - Particles are illuminated with a laser beam. Highly sensitive detectors measure fluorescence (from chlorophyll and other pigments) to distinguish living microorganisms from mineral particles, air bubbles, plastic fragments and other debris. If the signal