Open Ephys Commutators
Open Ephys Commutators provide near zero-torque motorized commutation of headstages, miniscopes, and other head mounted recording devices to permit unprecedented freedom of animal motion in large arenas.
Description
Internal-measurement units (IMUs) or video-based pose-estimation methods (e.g. DeepLabCut or SLEAP ) provide real-time measurements of freely moving animals' 3D pose. These technologies can be used to drive active commutation instead of relying on tether torque measurement which is used in conventional active commutators. This permits the use of extremely thin tethers that are incompatible with torque-based active commutators because their flexibility precludes accurate torque measurement. The benefit of these thin cables is that they promote natural animal behavior by minimizing the mechanical burden on the mouse.
Open Ephys Commutators accept JSON commands over UART, a common serial communication, to control commutation. This confers a great deal of modularity. Open Ephys Commutators support many off-the-shelf headstages and miniscopes out-of-the-box, but can also be easily interfaced with any device that outputs orientation data to automate commutation.
3D-positions of naïve mice as they explore a large 2.5D-arena. Blue: Mouse with ONIX headstage-64 and active commutator over 4 hours on the maze. Black: Unimplanted animal over 4 hours on the same maze.
Features
Automatic control using head-mounted IMU sensors or computer vision
Direct user control via open-source software as well as manual control buttons
Advanced stepper driver (TMC2130)
Voltage-controlled for silent operation
Precise motion using step interpolation (256 uSteps/step)
Settings are saved between power cycles
Mountable to standard optical tables and 80/20 rails
Single USB connection for power and control
LED indicator that can be completely turned off for light sensitive experiments
Growing number of options for compatibility with different headstages and miniscopes