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Bpod

Bpod

Rodent behavior with Bpod: low-cost, extensible, open-source.

Bpod_Gen2 source code: https://github.com/sanworks/Bpod_Gen2

Documentation: https://sites.google.com/site/bpoddocumentation/

Computer Aided Design (CAD) files: https://github.com/sanworks/Bpod-CAD

Legacy release (state machine 0.5 only): https://github.com/sanworks/Bpod/tree/master

Warning

🛑 This is a test version of the Bpod wiki to examine the feasibility of moving it to Github. The official wiki maintained by Sanworks is hosted here.

🚧 All of the content on the existing wiki should have been moved across, and only a few new additions remain incomplete.

Bpod is an open source rodent behavioral platform used in over 100 publications since 2013.

The key features include:

  • Hardware and software open-sourced under GNU General Public License v3
  • Optimized for rodent behavior measurement and closed-loop control
  • Arduino based architecture for user extendibility and easy integration into existing setups
  • Existing modules support common behavioral approaches

About Bpod

Bpod is an open source system for real-time behavior measurement in tasks consisting of multiple experimental trials. Experiment software is written in MATLAB, and device firmware is written in Arduino. Hardware can be assembled with DIY desktop manufacturing methods - hand-soldering, 3-D printing, laser cutting and hand-tapping. The system architecture is low cost, and supremely hackable - precisely what is necessary to explore a space of behavioral metrics, or to train test subjects with high throughput. This wiki contains instructions for assembly and programming.

Bpod was initially developed in Kepecs Lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, as a project alongside the lead developer's thesis research. It is maintained by Sanworks LLC, a company dedicated to developing Bpod and other open neuroscience tools.

Bpod builds on the central design concept of B-control, a system provided by Brody Lab at Princeton University for rodent behavior measurement. Experimental trials are constructed in MATLAB as finite state machines, and executed on a separate real-time Linux computer. Bpod combines this parallel processing model with the accessibility of embedded computing in the Arduino language. Bpod provides a rich suite of software tools in high level interpreted computing environments for protocol development and online analysis, while real-time processing is delegated to an Arduino microcontroller network governed by finite state machine firmware.

---
title: Bpod's design concept
---
sequenceDiagram
actor e as Experimenter
participant matlab as Computer
participant bpod as Bpod State Machine
participant external as External devices

e->>matlab: Start protocol
Note over matlab: Prepare session
matlab ->> external: Configure with user-friendly functions
loop
Note over matlab: Prepare state machine
matlab ->> bpod: Run state machine
activate bpod
Note over bpod: Rodent behavior
bpod -->external: High speed interaction
bpod ->> matlab: Send trial data
deactivate bpod
Note over matlab: Save data
end

We love hearing about the awesome science that is generated with Bpod!

Please post on the Forums with your questions and feedback, or email us directly.