Atlas' Abyss

Category:

> Field Device

Production Information

Faction: SCP Foundation

Manufacturing Body: Dr. Lyra Morgan, Project Manager Samuel Jones

Cost of Production: The Cost of Production is largely dependent on the methods of sourcing the necassary materials. If all materials are bought outright from a civillian populace, the VIRUS would cost roughly $35k excluding labor costs. If materials are made via proper Foundation fabrication methods, this cost can be reduced to as low as $10k excluding labor costs.

Production Time: Handmade, this device takes approximately one to two weeks to be fully developed. Due to the care-intensive methods of building proper microscopes, only up to five units per week could be made utilizing Foundation fabrication centers.

Scale of Production: This device is a singular prototype, designed as a proof of concept. If proper funding is granted for the widespread use of the VIRUS, the device could outright replace medical/scientific microscopes within the relevant departments within approximately two years.

Item Description

Appearance: Visually, the Viral Infection Retro Ultraviolet Scope (hereby referred to as the "VIRUS") appears to be the same as a 1993 Emerson VideoMovie Camcorder, with the addition of a right-mounted foldable screen display underneath where one would hold the device with the assistance of a strap. This display serves two purposes. The first is to actively display what the internal UV microscope recording device sees, and the second is to display calculatory information based on visual properties of things seen under the lens of the microscope. Due to the device's focus on cellular virology, the internal computer system is mainly used to determine infection types, cellular damage, and a rough estimate on the rate of infection based on cellular movement - all of which can be cycled through and displayed on the VIRUS' screen.

There is a selection of buttons on the left, right, and back side of the camcorder, all of which have been functionally readjusted to fulfill the device's capabilities. To generalize, the left side buttons mostly affect the microscope camera, both for the purposes of recording cellular activity as well as for the user's real time view of objects and entities up to the cellular level. The right side's buttons are mostly auxiliary, allowing the user to swap through various basic functions and navigate the installed screen display. The backside buttons of the camcorder allow the user to power the device, navigate through microscopic recordings, and export saved recordings to an analog storage device.

The backside of the device also has a scope for the user to bring up to their eye, which can be used to look through the internal microscope in real time without the use of other digital functions (such as recording). The microscope's zoom level can be adjusted by twisting the lens at the opening near the front of the device.

Properties: In order to provide it's main functionalities, the VIRUS makes use of two major technologies: A UV Microscope and a algorithmic learning and calculatory computer system. To operate the device, a user only needs to focus the lens on a particular surface of either a living entity or inanimate object and hit record. The recording is then pushed through an internal computer system, which has an onboard database it uses to analyze and recognize things at a cellular level. Since the main goal of this device is to recognize physically afflictive infections, which may not always be contained within its database (such as anomalous afflictions), the computer system is also able to flag and memorize unfamiliar images, which it uses to create a temporary profile until further research can be conducted.

Usage: The VIRUS device is designed to be utilized by researchers on the field rather than within labs. While proper facilities may be able to provide quicker and more accurate information, the ability to properly research things in-depth is not always an option. The VIRUS, along with anything else the Kappa-9 Initiative aims to develop, exists to further push the Foundation's capabilities to conduct field research at a moments notice. The technologies provided by this device aim to allow researchers to conduct a quick biological scan of physically afflictive illnesses, as well as provide basic information on living beings up to the cellular level. When encountering infections, the computer system will attempt to calculate the following: infection type (given a placeholder name if anomalous or otherwise unrecognized), levels of cellular damage from the scanned infection, and a rough estimate on the rate of infection based on cellular movement.

Relevant Research: The VIRUS makes use of already existing technologies, and is made possible by replacing the standard internals of a 1993 Emerson VideoMovie Camcorder with functionality for a live-view and camera-accessible UV Microscope. To learn more about the technologies in this device, see research data related to the following: Microscopy, Microscopy with UV Surface Excitation, Virology, Nanoelectronics, Digital Microscopes, and Live-Cell Imaging.

Additional Notes: N/A