Open-source 3D clinostat. A clinostat is a small scale microgravity simulator.
This is based on the European Space Agency's work, specifically on Jack Van Loon's clinorotation work.
OpenClino is designed to be simple, accessible, affordable, and reliable. It is designed to make use of 3D printing's strengths and requires no machining and minimum tools. To build OpenClino all non-printed parts are available off the shelf, mainly 3d printer stepper motors, belts, controllers, and skateboard bearings. All these parts are rated for thousands of hours of operation, and I have fully tested OpenClino to run for a minimum of 100 hours.
I have provided:
- Docs in
docs/1_documentation.md/including circuit diagram. - Code in
src/ - Code documentation in
docs/4_code_documentation.md/ - 3D print files as .3MF in
3d_files/ - Bill of materials in
docs/2_BOM.md/ - Build guide in
docs/3_build_guide.md/
To run in clinorotation mode simply add these to your arduino's loop function, this will run the x axis at 3 rpm and the y axis at 4:
void loop() {
spin_continuous(3,4);
}Don't forget to set the output pins for you motor controllers!
Partial gravity simulations are now possible since Version 0.5.0. Instructions available in docs/1_documentation.md/.
Since version 0.6.0 this now implements time averaged Simulated Partial Gravity (taSPG) based on the Kim et. al. 2026, Scientific Reports.
If you used OpenClino for your research, please reference the Zenodo release:
Wahab Kawafi. (2026). wahabk/Clinostat. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18448825