Nurugo Micro – 400x microscope for smartphones

Korean startup Nurugo presented a 400x microscope for smartphones. With the help of Nurugo Micro you might see miniature details of objects using the camera of your smartphone, and make macro photos and videos. It can be a useful, low-cost and truly mobile solution for students, field researchers and people who are interested in the world around them.

Module provides the maximum 400x zoom and the minimum – 18x, depending on the model of the smartphone. Regular school microscope can zoom in the objects about 900 times. But at the same time Nurugo Micro is several times smaller than ordinary microscope and allows you to take photos and videos. The structure of individual bacteria or cells would be difficult to see, but things like the structure of the tissue, human hair or bacteria colonies are easily accessible for shooting.

The gadget is connected to the device using the attachment-clothespins. Among other functions – the locking ring to illuminate the object, the optical fiber to eliminate shadows and manual focus. It goes without saying that the microscope can record video, as a special application to control the module is not required. Moreover, Nurugo Micro doesn’t consume precious battery power, because it is an additional set of optics over the camera lens like the popular accessories Olloclip.

Initially the Nurugo wanted to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter, but the amount has already exceeded $150,000 with 11 days left on the campaign. Although, most of the slots are already sold out, the microscope itself can be purchased for $39. It is much lower price than other devices with similar functionality – MicrobeScope from 4D costs $135 and has much larger size, but zooms in only 200x. It is expected that Nurugo Micro deliveries will begin in May this year.