Description

Bpod r0.5 beta is a system for precise measurement of small animal behavior. It measures the instant when discrete events happen (a snout enters a port, a tongue breaks a photogate, etc). Bpod can react to these events by rapidly changing aspects of the environment, providing an excellent closed-loop link between behavioral events, stimuli and reinforcement. Bpod is most often used for the 2AFC (two alternative forced choice) behavioral paradigm, but has been adapted to power a diverse range of other behavioral assays (conditioned place preference, go / no-go, self-stimulation, social value measurement, etc).

Bpod can interface with up to 8 behavior ports. Each behavior port contains one infrared photogate, one white LED with software-adjustable intensity, and one solenoid valve for dispensing precisely measured liquid rewards through a drinking tube. Bpod has additional inputs and outputs for triggering, digital communication and synchronization with a linked electrophysiology system. Integration with the Bonsai Framework allows video tracking events to drive state changes. Integration with Psychtoolbox 3 provides high quality audio stimuli with ~8ms latency on a properly configured computer.

Please be advised that Bpod r0.5 beta is a flexible behavior platform, and is not guaranteed to do everything you have in mind out of the box. It has a learning curve, and will require some programming to develop a behavioral protocol. Documentation and information about getting started is available on the Bpod wiki. Individual support is available in the Bpod forums. A central focus of our company is to grow the current community of Bpod users, to optimize the system for ease of use, and to add to its capabilities.

Specifications

Processor

• ARM Cortex M3: Atmel ATSAM3X8E (as part of the Arduino Due platform)
• 84MHz clock speed, 32-bit
• Programmable using the Arduino language

Behavior port channels

• 8 behavior ports connect with Ethernet cables to breakout boards on your behavior chamber
• Port LEDs are independently PWM modulated at 200kHz to control intensity in software
• Port LED current is adjustable using a potentiometer on the port breakout board
• Port valves (12V, up to 100mA sustained) can be opened one port at a time and are driven by a power shift register.

Trigger channels

• 2 channels: BNC connector, 2-5V TTL logic, optically isolated
• 4 channels: Spring terminal connector, 2-5V logic

TTL output channels

• 2 channels: 5V TTL logic, BNC connectors
• 4 channels: 3.3V TTL logic, spring terminal connectors

Event Synchronization

• Open Ephys, using the Bpod Open Ephys adapter
• Neuralynx, using the Bpod Neuralynx adapter
• 7 channels of digital logic driven by a shift register, display up to 128 states.

API

• A MATLAB API is provided to design and run behavioral experiments.
• No Mathworks toolboxes are required.
• OS support: Win7, Win8.1, Ubuntu 14.

Software plugins

• The Liquid Calibrator plugin measures the timing of valves to precisely gate the gravity flow of liquid from an elevated reservoir.
• The Bonsai plugin can drive state changes when its video tracking program detects entry into a region of interest.
• The Parameter GUI plugin gives you easy online access to your behavioral parameters.
• The Notebook plugin gives you an easy way to manually score trials, and add notes to your data.
• The Serial Ethernet plugin sends byte strings over Ethernet by passing them to a separate Arduino+Ethernet shield over UART.

Soft codes

• Soft codes are special bytes sent between your state matrix and MATLAB during a trial, for non-realtime operations.
• Soft codes arriving in MATLAB are handled by a soft code handler function you write (i.e. to trigger sound playback, change the display, etc).
• Soft codes sent via MATLAB (e.g. from Bonsai video tracking) are passed to the state machine, where they trigger state changes.

Power

• All computer communication and power is accomplished through a single USB port (USB micro connector)

Status indicator

• A bright tri-color LED illuminates the Bpod enclosure to indicate its current status. Blue = disconnected, Green = connected, Yellow = running a state matrix, Red = fault condition.

Material safety

• All parts are RoHS Compliant in our professional builds

Dimensions

• L: 15.2cm (6")
• W: 9.5cm (3 3/4")
• H: 6.4cm (2 1/2")