To put this work in further perspective, for about the cost of a standard commercial COD instrument a
research lab can purchase an open-source 3-D printer and all the parts to make the open-source colorimeter
described here. Thus, perhaps most importantly, the ease and low cost of this approach for developing
sensor-based tools enables increasingly sophisticated tools to be used in low-funded developing world
laboratories, helping to disseminate OSAT for sustainable development. In addition, high-quality
open-source scientific hardware, such as the colorimeter described here provides public, non-profit and
non-governmental institutions, schools and amateur scientists the tools necessary to conduct real
science, while driving down the costs of research tools at our most prestigious corporate, government,
and academic laboratories