The Vertex Cerebra looks like an aquarium controller from the future

Posted on September 19th, 2011 by 23

android aquarium controller

The Vertex Cerebra aquarium controller has been a long time coming but after spending a couple years in development, this next generation aqua-computer is almost ready for reefing prime time. Don’t let the development board pictured above fool you, this is simply a demonstration unit meant to show off the impressive touchscreen interface, plethora of interfaces and I/O all baked into a very fancy eight-layer circuit board.

Aquarium controllers have become incrementally better over the years but the Android-powered Cerebra will be a giant leap in performance and capabilities which stem from the fact that the Cerebra is not so much an aquarium controller and more like a fully modern computer which is optimized for just about every aquarium task you can think of.

With the vertex Cerebra you will be able to do everything that an aquarium controller currently does, and then you’ll be able to do crazy stuff like take regular or time lapse movies of your aquarium and have them automatically uploaded to youtube, watch them on the Cerebra’s HD touchscreen or on your home TV with HDMI output. Specially designed three-in-one probes can monitor temperature and pH while also signaling to the Cerebra the condition of their operation.

Other probes will include optical sensors, lux meters and several other types of controls which can be used dynamically to create some very interesting feedback loops and find out what is really going on in your tank. Finally, the Android OS of the Cerebra means that various kinds of apps can be downloaded from the Vertex App Store. Of course this is a lot of promise from an aquarium controller which has been teased for such a long time, and time will tell whether the top-tier pricing really justifies the advanced feature sets – for some power users we think it will.

The Vertex Cerebra will actually be a fully-loaded box which is optimized for having all the cables neatly concealed and coming out neatly out the sides. If you’re like us you are probably bugging out on the extreme depth of the unit but it is required to get either a really orderly flush-mounting housing or better yet, we love the idea of recessing the box into the stand or a wall so that the Cerebra is all screen and nothing else. Vertex expects the Cerebra to take its first baby steps int the wild this fall with a starting price in the neighborhood of $600 to $700 for a starter kit.

android aquarium controller
android aquarium controller
android aquarium controller

 

Posted in Breaking, Reef News |
Search More:   • • • •
 



Top Related Stories:

  • http://www.facebook.com/landon.lasseter Landon Lasseter

    Really happy to finally see the update here on the Cerebra.  I can’t wait to see more, and possibly get my hands on one.

  • http://www.facebook.com/landon.lasseter Landon Lasseter

    Really happy to finally see the update here on the Cerebra.  I can’t wait to see more, and possibly get my hands on one.

  • http://www.facebook.com/landon.lasseter Landon Lasseter

    Really happy to finally see the update here on the Cerebra.  I can’t wait to see more, and possibly get my hands on one.

  • http://www.facebook.com/landon.lasseter Landon Lasseter

    Really happy to finally see the update here on the Cerebra.  I can’t wait to see more, and possibly get my hands on one.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Afridijee Shah Khan

    Thanks so much for info. waiting for more

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Klaus-Jansen/100000650186369 Klaus Jansen

    Looks good….

  • Chris Hughes

    looks like two USB ports, 1 LAN port, the video outputs look to be DVI rather than HDMI and VGA I don’t see a sound output maybe this is a really early board. Daughter board looks to be either dials or those are probe interfaces.

    I really hope that they keep the focus on fish/reef keeping first. video recording, loading pictures to media sites and controlling other house hold stuff I can live without. Thousands of dollars worth of dead fish and corals I’d be seroiusly be miffed at because someone was to busy faffing about on video playback and social media than making the monitoring and control rock solid. Another point why come to MACNA and choose to have it playing a video of some woman singing? would it not made more sense to have a video of someone giving reef tips or even a video of someone explaining the capabilities of the device. I mean I’m buying this to put under my tank right not under my tv right?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1351327790 Richard Ross

    Seems like a good controller to start with. I’ll be waiting!

  • L .

    And i bet the shItty screen will be 70% of its cost… i already got a screen, my computer! not to mention if i ever wanted a screen i can get a much bigger better quality one for under $300 bucks!

    Hope Seneye delivers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508021671 Albert Dao

    There are no dials. All of the interface is done through the touch screen. This is indeed one of the earlier boards. The production version looks slightly different. The same goes for the screen, more of which can be seen here:

    http://reefbuilders.com/2011/09/08/vertex-cerebra-libra-touchscreen/

    The picture was taken while people were playing with the controller. It is an artifact of coincidence. It could have very well been a video of corals and fish, or how to set up a calcium reactor, or American Idol’s Spoof Reel – Midget edition, :D

    Hope that clears a few things up.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508021671 Albert Dao

    There are no dials. All of the interface is done through the touch screen. This is indeed one of the earlier boards. The production version looks slightly different. The same goes for the screen, more of which can be seen here:

    http://reefbuilders.com/2011/09/08/vertex-cerebra-libra-touchscreen/

    The picture was taken while people were playing with the controller. It is an artifact of coincidence. It could have very well been a video of corals and fish, or how to set up a calcium reactor, or American Idol’s Spoof Reel – Midget edition, :D

    Hope that clears a few things up.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508021671 Albert Dao

    If that was the case, then where do all the other controllers justify their retail prices?

    The screen is a multifunctional tool, serving both as a display output device as well as a user interface (touch screen functionality).

  • Anonymous

    Since it is a very small market, controller Mfg can pick their price essentially. Your also paying for mostly R&D when it comes to the big name controllers, the hardware itself is fairly cheap. You can make an Ardiuno controller for around $80 and do just about everything a $300 controller could do, but you have to program it yourself. I still think LED Mfgs get a lot more $ per product sold than controller mfg though, I actually don’t have a problem for a controller that cost up to $500 because I see it as being a fair price and a reasonable profit to the Mfg. I do think this controller is going to cost quite a bit more than $500 though and to me it wouldn’t be worth it.. just speaking for myself.

  • Anonymous

    Since it is a very small market, controller Mfg can pick their price essentially. Your also paying for mostly R&D when it comes to the big name controllers, the hardware itself is fairly cheap. You can make an Ardiuno controller for around $80 and do just about everything a $300 controller could do, but you have to program it yourself. I still think LED Mfgs get a lot more $ per product sold than controller mfg though, I actually don’t have a problem for a controller that cost up to $500 because I see it as being a fair price and a reasonable profit to the Mfg. I do think this controller is going to cost quite a bit more than $500 though and to me it wouldn’t be worth it.. just speaking for myself.

  • Anonymous

    After this product shuts down that hack shop called Digital Aquatics, I hope Albert & the folks at Proline drop-kick Scott Bogen in the head at the next MACNA.

  • Anonymous

    After this product shuts down that hack shop called Digital Aquatics, I hope Albert & the folks at Proline drop-kick Scott Bogen in the head at the next MACNA.

  • Chris Hughes

    Thanks for the response albert :o )

    I do see what other folks are saying here due to the size of the box this is not vary easy to actually leave out to display. Many reef keepers have open top tanks so top of the tank is out and it’s to big to be wall or cabinet door mounted. So essentailly it will be hidden in the cabinet most of the time unless your building a special shelf which would not fit to well with many wives. So all thats left is a control interface that your want to see all the time but can’t. it’s such a shame they did not have the touch screen on a cable so you could wall or cabinet mount or just pull the touch screen out to work on instead of having to crawl around under the cabinet. It’s the old saying out of sight out of mind the display needs to be displayable!.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=508021671 Albert Dao

    Unfortunately, this is a little beyond my knowledge at this moment. More like one of those “when it’s in my hands” things, haha.

  • Benjamin Alldridge

    That price is awesome. I was expecting closer to several thousand just as a buy-in… this certainly puts it within the reach of many more reefers. Be interesting to see how the additional modules play out, there’s some extremely interesting ones which have been listed in the spec sheets.

    Now, to see what comes of it…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicolas-Dorweiler/100000812976808 Nicolas Dorweiler

    Dear Chris,
    please think out of the box with our Cerebra, it has wireless connection, Bluetooth, Zigbee, GSM possibility so any connection you might need to connect it with your phone, Tablet PC or Office/Home PC to check the data inside.  It has a build in Webserver and it is based on android, so make your own programm for your own need. you can connect it with an zig-bee based remote controll you might know from homeautomation systems… And who said we will not have an wireless remote conbtroll, you never know… :)

    Best regards
    Nicolas

  • Martin Brochu

    Monitor from the future? Anything with a screen for me is from the past. Control should be from the confort of my computer chair and Android/Iphone apps. Being Android is all good but it kinda makes me think this is going to be a overpriced stipped and modified android tablet.

  • Anonymous

    This is certainly a slick piece of kit. 

    A few things concern me, and it isn’t cost.

    1. If the cost is high, the user base will be low and the support from such a user base will not be that great. Community is king when trying to make stuff work the way you want it to. Maybe if this is priced as high as I expect it to be (~$1500-$2000 for a fully functioning system – not just the head unit) means that I am wrong as people in this set will just pay someone to come over and tweak things…kind of like paying the AV guy to program your remotes on your $50K home theater. If that is the target market, then a wide community base is less of an issue.

    2. The unit seems to not be made for the saltwater environment. Like it or not, most people put their aquarium gear in a cabinet with all the other stuff. There is too much electronics and unless they epoxy-pot all of that, the damp saltwater will for sure take a toll at some point. It doesn’t take much when its not just voltage but bits and bytes and busses and lots and lots of connectors.

    3. More focus out there needs to be put on developing and refining entry-level controllers for our hobby. Stuff that will do the basics and insure (and notify on) most people’s tanks for 80-90% of the common failures and do it with an easy install and no more than a couple of hundred dollars.

    4. Using anything but a smart-phone or tablet for control is unnecessary cost built into the unit. Heck it is probably cheaper to just make the interface work on a kindle fire and buy one to dedicate just to your tank!

    I have seen this controller in person at MACNA and the case is gorgeous. Despite the above, I will review the product with an open mind at some point in the near future when it is out in the wild.

  • SoTM

    Idiot.

    I love the morons in this hobby that know everything from a picture. Go back to jerking off you schmuck.