Posts

COSE updates

Software releases, engineering notes, new instruments, deliveries and other updates from COSE. RSS feed.

  • COSE at ASGSR 2026Events

    Jerry and Richard will be exhibiting the current SciSpinner Max at the 42nd annual meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, 2–5 December 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

  • New tool: time-lapse to videoTools

    A browser tool that turns the still images in a run's timelapse folder into an MP4 with an elapsed-time overlay, using the interval and start time from experiment.json.

  • New tool: run setupTools

    A browser tool for preparing a SciSpinner Max configuration file, including motor speeds, run plan, lighting presets, camera settings and display settings, then downloading it as scispinner-config.json for the USB drive.

  • New tool: clinostat simulatorTools

    A browser-based simulator of the SciSpinner Max: set the frame and core speeds, watch the instrument turn, and see the motion sensor reading, time-averaged ⟨g⟩ and sphere coverage before a run.

  • New tool: g-level analysisTools

    The g-level analysis page that ships in every run folder is now hosted at cosecloud.com/tools, and software releases and other news will be posted here.

  • Software 1.4.0: lighting protection, LED controls and long-run reliabilitySoftware

    The October release keeps chamber lighting within its power budget, redesigns the LED selector, changes the core status dot to indicate when the camera is usable, and includes reliability fixes identified during extended unattended operation. Available on request.

  • Software 1.3.0: measured ⟨g⟩, offset correction and a run analysis pageSoftware

    The September update measures and removes the motion sensor's zero-g offset during a run, adds a Coverage tab, and puts an analysis page in every run folder. The update is free for every SciSpinner Max.

  • The first customer: NASA Ames Research CenterHistory

    COSE's first sale was a custom two-axis clinostat for NASA Ames Research Center in June 2019.

  • Choosing the motors: DC, servo or stepperEngineering

    What each clinostat axis needs from its motor, five ways it could be driven, and why we chose the one we use.

  • The second SciSpinner prototypeHistory

    Eighteen months after the first bench rig: a sealed spherical chamber with a camera and LED ring inside, a motor on each axis, and a touchscreen controller. Built for the Gilroy lab at UW–Madison, before the company existed.

  • gBETA Social Impact and a year at StartingBlockHistory

    COSE joined the first gBETA Social Impact cohort, run by gener8tor with the American Family Insurance Institute, and received a year of office space at StartingBlock in Madison.

  • The first SciSpinner prototypeHistory

    The oldest footage we have of a SciSpinner: a 3D-printed two-axis clinostat built as an undergraduate project at UW–Madison, running on a lab bench in April 2017.

  • First place at Startup Weekend EDUHistory

    In July 2016 Jerry and two teammates took first place at Startup Weekend Madison EDU with FlashLapse, a 3D-printed time-lapse imaging chamber for classrooms. It was the earliest version of what became COSE.

  • Where it started: a sunset on the TerraceHistory

    A time-lapse of the sunset over Lake Mendota, filmed from the Memorial Union Terrace in May 2016. While it was recording, Jerry met Richard, and the conversation that followed eventually became COSE.