It was super cool to visit the heart of the research and development of the MindStream aquarium monitor and pick the Step Ahead Innovations team’s brain about how their device works inside and out. However while we were there, we were doubly lucky to be able to get our hands on the MindStream monitor and actually take one apart for ourselves, and for you, to get an intimate feel for the moving (and non moving) parts of this exciting new reef tool.
In the following time-lapse video teardown you can see us get at all the major parts of the MindStream. In the beginning of the video the flat plastic circle with all the little colored pads is the actual replacement disc that will be the replaceable test part of the MindStream. Then we move into taking apart the main MindStream measuring and monitoring unit, starting with the inductive power puck that transfers power to the MindStream through the glass.
Next we move past the power pack revealing the LEDs and photo sensor that will read color and fluorescence of the chemistry pads, and the stepper motor that will spin the testing disc magnetically through the front face of the monitor itself. This is not necessarily the exact model or design that will ship later this year and early next, but this is about as close of a tear down of the MindStream that we’re likely for months until the MindStream starts shipping to the first wave of Kickstarter backers.
