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Innovation Lab
The Innovation Lab is a hub for creativity and exploration, a place where ideas can be designed and built.
iLab hours: Tues. - Fri. 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Idea - Prototype - Production
One of the gems of the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building is the Innovation Lab or iLab. This lab has space and equipment to take your project from the idea phase, to fabricating and testing a prototype and into production.
This vast 2,563-square-foot workshop is filled with equipment for electromechanical design, CNC and manual machining, welding and fabrication, lathes, 3D design, modeling, printing and laser cutting.
In addition, the artisits' studio overlooks the iLab and provides artists and scientists with a collaborative workspace to explore the passion of the marine world. Watch this video to learn more about the unique collaboration behind the iLab success.
News & Highlights
Earthquake-activated sensor opens cache lock boxes
iLab interns and Oregon State University engineering students Camden Galen and Adrian Mobley, both Newport natives, have designed and built an innovative lock box for emergency caches along the coast. When an earthquake occurs, a sensor is activated and opens the lock box. This will allow the public to access the emergency supplies stored in the caches along the coast. These boxes are currently installed in the two caches in Newport, and another is planned to be installed on the Yachats cache. The students internship and the lock boxes are funded by a grant Oregon Sea Grant received from NOAA to help build resilient communities. This newsletter article shares the journey these interns took to develop the lock box.
Innovating for a Sustainable Fishery
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Hatfield's iLab team built stereo camera drop systems for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Above images show it being built in the lab and then tested to evaluate its balance and orientation in the deep ocean tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
This system is a key tool in a pilot project that uses video and hydroacoustic tools to estimate fish populations. With limited data on West Coast fish stocks, ODFW's Marine Fisheries Research Team is working to create fishery-independent data. This will enhance stock assessments for species of concern and promote sustainable management.
This effort aims to support our local fishing communities while maintaining sustainable and vibrant fisheries.
🔗 Learn more: ODFW Marine Fisheries Research.
Meet Bumble Bee - the iLab’s new ROV
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Recently, the iLab acquired a shallow-water class ROV by Blue Robotics which they dubbed Bumble Bee. This ROV, which operates in waters up to 100 meters deep, has already had three successful missions off the Oregon coast. Funding for this instrument was made possible with the financial support of Ken and Adrienne Sexton.
This ROV will be available as a shared instrument within the Hatfield research community and for visiting researchers. It will serve as a development platform for testing prototypes of tools created in the iLab that can be attached to robotic vehicles. There will be a fee system set up to support its maintenance.
Bumble Bee will also be available for community education and outreach events like the annual MATE ROV competition. Contact the iLab Manager, Drummond Wengrove for more details.
Polishing wheel developed in iLab game changer for research
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Globally, management agencies rely on the precise polishing of millions of otoliths each year to obtain vital demographic data, such as age and growth. However, this process is time consuming, labor intensive, and ergonomically strenuous. Since the early 1970s, there has been limited advancement in preparation methods with many still using manual approaches or costly, and at times inefficient, equipment. The iLab and members of Jessica Miller's lab worked together to design and fabricated an affordable, adjustable speed, multi-wheel polisher, which can be powered with alternating or direct current. The result - sample preparation time was reduced, and sample consistency was notably improved compared to manual approaches. While specifically designed for consistent and relatively rapid preparation of otolith thin sections, the polisher is readily adaptable to a variety of applications. Designs and manufacturing for these wheels are publicly available by contacting the iLab. Read more about this work in a the journal article, Otoliths, bones, teeth, and more: Development of a new polishing wheel for calcified structures, in Limnology and Oceanography Methods.
Student Developer and Collaborator Test eDNA Prototype
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The iLab in collaboration with Ostrea Marine joined forces for a week-long design and build campaign to complete the second prototype of the EDULIS (Environmental DNA Underwater Long-term In-situ Sampler) system. This tool is a passive sampling method used for species identification. It includes a water pump that pumps water through a filter with small holes that traps particles from animals (fish skin, etc.). Scientists can then examine the contents of the filters to see what has been in the area where the filter system was set up.
This project design is led by OSU undergraduate Genevieve Coblentz-Strong a technician and former intern in the iLab who has guided the prototype through first and now second round development. Coblentz-Strong recently presented her work on the sampler at the Oceans Conference in Halifax and published a paper which will be released with the conference proceedings later this year.
Kyle Neumann, the force behind Ostrea Marine, joined the group in Newport from his home in Juneau, Alaska. This second-round prototype significantly reduced the size and complexity and increased the modularity. The team hopes to schedule offshore field testing in the near term and are looking for any collaborators interested in incorporating eDNA sampling into their work. If you are interested in participating, contact iLab Manager, Drummond Wengrove.
iLab Goes to Alaska
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Scientists and their equipment often work in extreme environments. This is the case for the Coastal Boundary Dynamics Research Lab from Oregon State University’s College of Engineering. They reached out to the iLab to develop an automated deployment system for a multibeam sonar that researchers were deploying in ice-saturated waters near an actively calving tidewater glacier.
Read how this project led the iLab team to Alaska and the intern whose summer project was seriously field-tested.