Log · CubanWaterLab

JUL–SEP2026

The cargo arrives, the FabLab takes off and the wave channel begins to rise

A busy quarter: the first ULB container finally arrives, the digital fabrication lab starts working in the middle of summer, the first analyses of real bay water are made and construction of the medium wave channel begins, while the doctoral students advance their papers and their work with the community.

Security of the premises

With the arrival of the first container, three security cameras were installed covering the three main indoor areas where most of the goods acquired with the ARES project are kept. They were installed personally by the project director, with the help of Raciel Pupo-Santos, and cannot be monitored or accessed from outside the building.

When the university leadership asked units to report their material needs, the section of the Complex Systems Center linked to the project made a single request: the urgent repair of the windows of the rooms where the project’s goods are stored. The response is still pending.

Fig. 21 — The three security cameras installed in the Physics building, seen from a phone.

The Brussels container

The container had reached the port of Mariel in April, but because of the fuel shortage the importing company (EMIDICT) never came to pick it up, even after a meeting with its officials on June 30 to speed things up. Transport was finally financed by the SME Espoleta Tecnologías, supplemented by a personal contribution, and the equipment reached the Physics building on July 15, 2026. During the vacation period the team worked hard: new electrical installations, assembly of the 3D printers and machine tools, and a detailed inventory check.

The second container from Belgium and the second shipment from Panama are being followed closely; both face the same level of internal bureaucracy, with ever fewer shipping lines willing to carry cargo to the country. Thanks to the efforts of ALIANC Group Servicios Integrales — especially specialist Leonardo Durán — the spectrophotometer software that was owed to the project was finally obtained and installed in September.

Fig. 22 — The cargo of the first container, unpacked at the port of Mariel.

Fig. 23 — Orestes Chávez carries the equipment into the Physics building from a truck rented with the team’s own means.

Fig. 24 — Installing the 3D printers in the lab.

Fig. 25 — Sorting and inventorying the boxes inside the lab.

First real samples from the bay

Given the scarcity of measurements on Havana Bay water during the period, A. Rivera and E. Altshuler took samples at several points of the bay and measured pH, conductivity and UV-visible spectrophotometry with the commercial spectrophotometer purchased with ARES funds. They concluded that most of the useful information lies in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum and that measuring turbidity independently would greatly help in interpreting the spectra. They also observed logically correlated variations between spectrophotometry, conductivity and pH across different locations in the bay, suggesting contamination levels that can be told apart with these techniques.

Fig. 26 — Study of real samples from Havana Bay: sampling points, location photos and UV-visible spectra.

The medium wave channel

Construction received an extraordinary boost this quarter. Structural simulations of several channel designs, run by fifth-year student Jean Rafael López with specialized software, changed the project’s building philosophy: a steel structure is essential to hold the acrylic panels, since with other materials the mechanical deformations would be unacceptable. Getting substantial quantities of steel L-section and square-section profiles required redistributing some consumables bought with the project and a donation of materials from IMRE (University of Havana).

Construction began in the second half of September at a good pace, partly thanks to the blacksmith skills of Jean Rafael himself. One of the first steps was moving and thoroughly repairing the small glass-walled wave channel, with the help of Marlon Mederos and Luis Abel Rodríguez, so that experiments are not interrupted while the large channel is built. The report jokingly presents it as the birth of a new discipline in Physics: “channel-culture”.

Fig. 27 — Moving and overhauling the small glass-walled wave channel.

Fig. 28 — Cutting the steel profiles that will form the structure of the medium channel.

Fig. 29 — Welding the steel structure of the new wave channel, September 2026.

“Kick off FabLabComplex” micro-workshop

From August 10 to 12, in the middle of the vacation period and with the Faculty of Physics management keeping the building open, the team showed that the digital fabrication lab financed by ARES was partly functional less than a month after the equipment arrived. The bet relied on the fact that the Physics building shares an electrical circuit with the “Calixto García” hospital and suffers far fewer power cuts.

Three groups were formed to build, from scratch, three devices relevant to the project: an anemometer (led by Orestes Chávez), a turbidity meter (Alex Manuel Rivera) and a water-level gauge for a channel (Luis Abel Rodríguez). Participants included physics students, engineers, young biologists, a physician and a social scientist — a heterogeneous group, inclusive in every sense. Despite some organizational hiccups, on the last day, at 8 PM, all three projects were successfully finished.

Fig. 30 — Micro-workshop: a group assembles circuits and sensors on the work table.

Fig. 31 — Micro-workshop: an explanation session at the whiteboard, with prototypes and materials on the tables.

Fig. 32 — The three finished devices at the close of the micro-workshop (August 12, 8 PM): from left to right, turbidity meter, anemometer and water-level gauge, with the participants who made it to the end.

Academic activities

Doctoral student Luis Abel Rodríguez de Torner gave a doctoral progress seminar at the UH Complex Systems Center on September 28, after attending the 5th Training School on Wave-Structure Interaction (Florence, September 14–18), funded by the project. At the Faculty of Physics Summer School for pre-university students, Luis Abel led a team on “The secret of the slope: how an angle decides where particles float in the sea” and Daniela Martínez led “Optical calibration of the PlanktoScope: measuring magnification, thickness and biodiversity”; the group linked to the project won second place in the Tenth-Grade category.

Several papers in the exact sciences, natural sciences and engineering are also under way: one submitted in April to Environmental Modelling and Assessment, still awaiting the first round of anonymous refereeing; another in final review by the authors before being sent to Reviews of Scientific Instruments; and others in preparation.

Fig. 33 — Titles of the project’s papers in preparation, in the exact sciences, natural sciences and engineering.

Social sciences and community work

Doctoral student Mayelín García-Remus continued her doctoral stay at the Université catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve) between February and August 2026 and took part in the training activities of the CIRTES research center, including the 10th International EMES School on Social Economy. She finished writing a systematic review on community and citizen participation in water-quality monitoring and, together with her two supervisors, defined the thesis structure as three articles: the theoretical foundation, the empirical study of the Casablanca community, and a reflection on interdisciplinary dialogue around the new technology.

In Casablanca the surveys continued with the support of the president of the people’s council, and a working session with the director of the CIMAB laboratory coordinated the validation of the instrument to be used in the communities. After the August FabLab, interviews with key informants about digital fabrication in Cuba were carried out and an instrument to measure the social appropriation of technologies was designed, pending validation. The panel proposal “Technologies and equity gaps” was also approved for the international seminar “Intersectionality, Equity and Social Policies”, to be presented in November, and a methodological meeting explored possible social scenarios for working with the community from the citizen-science paradigm.

Fig. 34 — Members of the Casablanca people’s council community filling in the project’s surveys.

Quarter in brief

Despite the country’s dramatic economic situation — a serious deterioration in the participants’ living conditions, no access to the bay’s buoys and zero institutional maintenance of infrastructure — the project is at two moments of clear take-off: the organization of a digital fabrication laboratory (FabLabComplex) and the start of construction of the wave channel.

Container deliveredFabLabComplexWave channel under constructionFirst bay samplesDoctorates under wayFirst bay samplesDoctorates under wayFirst bay samplesDoctorates under way

APR–JUN2026

The container arrives at Mariel; the homemade instrument is put to the test

The first container from Brussels reaches the port of Mariel in April. In the lab, calibration of the low-cost, in-house spectrophotometer against the commercial one is completed, and an experiment with copper mesh against biofouling reveals an unexpected chemical reaction — copper chloride — that forces a redesign of the test.

Student Jean Rafael López takes first place at the Physics Student Science Fair with a shadowmetry-plus-AI algorithm for oil-spill stains (more details in Results), and the project's first scientific paper enters peer review. In Brussels, 3D simulations in DualSPHysics confirm what was observed in the Cuban wave channel.

Close-up of a copper mesh covered in blue-green copper-chloride crystals after exposure in the bay. — Fig. 18 — Unexpected reaction: copper chloride on the protective mesh, after 7 days of exposure.

Floating cylinder drifting under wave action in the FabLab-ULB wave channel, with its path marked. — Fig. 19 — Wave-driven drift of a scale-model cylinder, FabLab-ULB channel.

Window reinforced with a panel in the room where the project's wave channel will be built. — Fig. 20 — Another window reinforced with the team's own resources, June 23, 2026.

Container at MarielPaper in review1st place, Science Fair

JAN–MAR2026

A break-in, a boarded-up window, and homemade spectrophotometers

The windows of the Physics building, weakened by termites, are left exposed: on March 16 a break-in occurs in the building. With no institutional response forthcoming, the project's own team boards up windows and reinforces doors with the project's own materials, to protect an investment of more than USD 100,000 in equipment due to arrive from Brussels.

Despite this, the science moves forward: new prototypes of a portable spectrophotometer and an AI-equipped microscope, first experiments on the drift of solid pollutants in the wave channel, and 87 surveys completed with Casablanca residents.

Project students boarding up a vulnerable window of the Physics building with acrylic. — Fig. 15 — The team boards up the most vulnerable windows with acrylic, March 17, 2026.

Daniela Martínez-Ortiz calibrating the professional spectrophotometer in the lab. — Fig. 16 — Calibration of the spectrophotometer acquired with project funding, March 30, 2026.

Empty can floating and drifting toward the artificial beach of a laboratory wave channel. — Fig. 17 — Drift of an empty can in the wave channel: asymmetry decides its speed.

Break-in · Mar 16Low-cost spectrophotometer87 surveys

OCT–DEC2025

SOS termites; the first in-house prototypes are born

The termite-eaten Physics building grows more vulnerable by the day, which could directly affect our project. However, the institution has been unable to respond to this serious problem, shared by several areas of the university. From the shipment out of Panama, four electric mopeds, a generator, and a professional spectrophotometer arrive, the latter installed at IMRE's Zeolite Engineering Laboratory.

In Brussels, PhD candidates Alex Rivera and Daniela Martínez-Ortiz build the project's first homegrown prototypes: a portable spectrophotometer and an AI-equipped microscope, both designed for in situ measurements of marine water quality. Back on land, prolonged blackouts knock the buoys' LoRa communication system offline, while a copper mesh shows encouraging early results against biological fouling, and Mayelín García continues the community surveys in Casablanca.

Prototype of a low-cost portable spectrophotometer built by the PhD candidates. — Fig. 13 — Prototype of a low-cost portable spectrophotometer, built by the PhD candidates in Brussels.

Prototype of an AI-equipped portable microscope for water-quality measurements. — Fig. 14 — Prototype of an AI-equipped portable microscope, for in situ water-quality measurements.

Termites · no responseIn-house spectrophotometerAI microscope

JUL–SEP2025

Artificial intelligence sees underwater for the first time

With a cheap camera and very murky water, a modestly trained AI manages to identify, for the first time, a jellyfish and biological colonization (biofouling) in Havana Bay. The project's three PhD candidates in the exact sciences — Alex Rivera, Luis Abel Rodríguez, and Daniela Martínez — formally enroll in ULB doctoral programs.

The CubanWaterLab 2025 Summer School has pre-university students measuring water pollution and identifying microplastics with polarized light, and Cimab invites the project to present at its workshop “Climate change and women: more vulnerable?”

Underwater frame with AI detection of a jellyfish and biofouling, with recognition bounding boxes. — Fig. 11 — First detection of underwater life using AI: “jellyfish 0.85,” Havana Bay.

Luis Abel Rodríguez presenting the project at the Cimab workshop on climate change and women. — Fig. 12 — Luis Abel Rodríguez presents CubanWaterLab at Cimab, September 25, 2025.

AI · visionULB doctorateSummer School

APR–JUN2025

Resilient communication, first meeting with the fishers

The LoRa communication system is tested with 12-volt batteries to withstand the country's systematic blackouts. At ULB, Luis Abel Rodríguez builds a medium-sized wave channel and explores new assembly systems. In Cuba, the team holds its first formal meeting with the fishers at the Casablanca recreational fishing base.

In parallel, three decades of environmental studies on Havana Bay carried out by Cimab since 1980 are systematized, as a baseline for the project's social-science component.

Wave generator of the channel built at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, with green-colored water. — Fig. 9 — Wave generator of the channel built at ULB, early 2025.

Project team's first meeting with fishers from the Casablanca recreational fishing base. — Fig. 10 — First meeting with fishers from the Casablanca base.

LoRa · 12VCasablancaULB wave channel

JAN–MAR2025

The buoy goes into the water — and learns to survive

On February 21, 2025, professors and students manually unload 4.5 tons of acrylic sheets that arrived from China. With them, a first sensor system is installed on a real buoy in the bay; weeks later, the temperature sensor's cable turns up cut with a knife. The team reinstalls the system and ties a message to the buoy asking fishers to take care of the equipment.

Professors Stamatios Nicolis and Alexandre Campo (ULB) visit Cuba from March 15 to 25, and the project holds its international “PhD Kick-off” workshop. Fieldwork with the Casablanca community also begins.

Professors and students manually unloading acrylic sheets from a truck. — Fig. 6 — Unloading 4.5 tons of acrylic that arrived from China, February 21, 2025.

Project team aboard a boat, getting ready to board a buoy in Havana Bay. — Fig. 7 — Getting ready to board a buoy in the bay, March 24, 2025.

Group photo of the project's international PhD Kick-off workshop. — Fig. 8 — International “PhD Kick-off” workshop, Faculty of Physics, March 18, 2025.

VandalismCasablancaULB visit

OCT–DEC2024

The strategic decision: instrumenting the buoys that already exist

Two workshops — at the University of Havana in March and at Espoleta Tecnologías in November — bring together, for the first time, every actor in the bay: the university, Geocuba, the State Group for managing the Bay, harbor pilots, and community representatives. After visiting Geocuba, the team decides to attach the sensor system to the buoys already anchored and authorized in the bay, instead of building buoys of their own from scratch: a decision that greatly simplifies the project's logistics.

The first exploratory study in social sciences also gets under way, and the project is presented at the 4th Mesoamerican Forum on Climate Change and Risk Management.

Group photo of the workshop on scientific tools at the University of Havana, March 2024. — Fig. 4 — Workshop “Introducing scientific tools…,” UH, March 12, 2024.

Group photo of the workshop at Espoleta Tecnologías, November 2024. — Fig. 5 — Coordinating the first in situ trials, Espoleta Tecnologías, November 20, 2024.

GeocubaSocial sciencesMesoamerican Forum

JUL–SEP2024

First prototypes, straight out of FabAcademy

PhD candidates Alex Manuel Rivera Rivera and Luis Abel Rodríguez de Torner complete their first stay at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and pass the international FabAcademy course. As their final project, Rivera presents a first weather-buoy prototype and Rodríguez a first small-scale wave channel. In parallel, the purchase list for the future FabLab at the Faculty of Physics is finalized.

From July 15 to 20, both teach basic electronics and Arduino at the Physics Summer School to pre-university students, and on August 17 the project reaches national television on the program Observatorio Científico.

Doctoral students during FabAcademy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. — Fig. 1 — Cuban PhD candidates during FabAcademy, ULB, first half of 2024.

Green 3D-printed buoy hull, fresh off the printer. — Fig. 2 — 3D-printed hull of the first buoy prototype.

Pre-university students working on electronics during the 2024 Physics Summer School. — Fig. 3 — Physics Summer School, July 15–20, 2024.

FabAcademyUniversity outreachNational TV

Quarter by quarter, since July 2024