Stoelting™ Connecting Input/Output Devices for ANY-Maze Software

Stoelting™ Connecting Input/Output Devices for ANY-Maze Software replace the original ANY-maze interface (AMi), providing improved performance in a smaller form-factor and at a lower price. 

Catalog Number	Mfr. No.	Model
10-000-286	Stoelting™ 60060	Optogenetics Interface
10-000-287	Stoelting™ 60061	Touch Sensor (Parallel Rod Floor Test) Interface
10-000-288	Stoelting™ 60063	General High Power Switching Relay
10-000-289	Stoelting™ 60064	General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO)
10-000-290	Stoelting™ 60066	Speaker
10-000-291	Stoelting™ 60067	Analog Interface
10-000-292	Stoelting™ 60068	Audio Interface
10-000-293	Stoelting™ 60070	Audio Interface and Speaker

Description

Optogenetics interface is designed to independently control up to four optogenetic lasers during behavioural tests performed with ANY-maze. Using the interface, users can either pulse a laser with very high precision at a specific frequency and duty cycle for a set duration, or play a series of arbitrary pulses. If the laser supports it, the interface can dynamically adjust the laser's intensity.

Using the Optogenetic interface and ANY-maze, users can easily set up tests in which a laser would pulse at 10 Hz with a duty cycle of 33% for 2 seconds, whenever an animal enters a specific part of the apparatus. Users can alter these parameters as the test progresses, increasing the duration or changing the duty cycle, each time the animal presses a lever.

The Touch switch interface is designed to detect when an animal touches something conductive. For example, the touch switch can be used to detect when the animal licks at a bottle spout, when the animal's paw touches a metal plate on the wall of a cage, or when the animal slips from a grid and its paw touching a metal floor. In all cases the animal needs to be in contact with something else that's conductive - usually the floor of the cage - so that the animal completes a circuit between the two things when it makes a touch.

The ANY-maze Remote control is designed to provide a simple and practical way to remotely start tests. It consists of two parts: a receiver, which connects to a computer's USB port, and the remote control itself, which has two buttons and works through walls and at distances of 10 to 50 meters.

The Relay interface has 6 output ports which can be used to turn things on and off under software control. An output could switch on a shocker, turn on a light or activate a pellet dispenser.

The AMi-2 Relay interface uses what are called solid state relays (hence the interface's name), which operate like simple on/off switches. Using the Relay interface, ANY-maze can simply open or close a switch, which can be very useful in a wide range of situations including:

• Many shockers have remote control inputs, which turn on the shock when the two terminals of the input are connected together. Connect the terminals to a Relay interface output port, and ANY-maze can control the shocker.
• Many pellet dispensers are activated by connecting a specific input to power (or in some cases to ground). Connect this input to one side of a Relay interface output, and power (or ground) to the other, and ANY-maze can dispense pellets.
• Anything which can be activated using a simple switch can be controlled by an AMi-2 Relay interface, for example, a cue light, a speaker that plays white noise, a motor that opens and closes a door, etc.

The Digital interface is designed to connect ANY-maze to a wide range of equipment typically found in behavioural labs, such as: levers, photobeams, running wheels, some shockers and pellet dispensers, cue lights, etc.

The Analogue interface is designed to connect ANY-maze to devices which output analogue signals, for example a respiratory gas analyser, a blood pressure monitor or an EEG. The interface can also output digital signals, which can, for example, represent the location of the animal in the apparatus.

The Audio interface has six outputs which can be connected to 4-ohm or 8-ohm speakers. Each output can independently play white noise, tones or a sound file under full software control.

Specifications

• For Use With (Application): Neuroscience
• For Use With (Equipment): ANY-maze