ArControl is a Arduino based digital signals control system. A special application for ArControl is to establish a animal behavioral platform (as Skinner box), which control devices to deliver stimulation and monitor behavioral response. ArControl is also useful to generate Optogenetic TTL pulses.

The new board -- Board V3

Task visulization

ArControl Designer can export the behavior task to the pdf (Designer>menu>Export pdf), which offers beautifual visualization of the behavior task. Take Go/No-Go for an example.

Data file convert

ArControl use raw txt file to store recording data. It's easy to convert that to other general platforms.

ArControl -> Python (auto) \ ArControl -> Matlab (auto) \ ArControl -> NWB format (see converter)

Features

• [x] Comprehensive – it combines software and hardware, behavioral task design and experimental data collection.
• [x] Inexpensive – neither dedicated nor expensive hardware is essential.
• [x] General purpose - it’s applicable to multiple behavioral tasks.
• [x] Easy to use – behavior task can be decomposed by the straightforward State Notation concept, and designed via a friendly GUI without need to master script language. You are free from knownledge about C++ / Arduino / Matlab coding.
• [x] Real-time performance – it has high temporal resolution (<1ms) and free from the load of computer.

Requirements

• Windows 7/10
• Arduino IDE

Boards Support

• Arduino UNO (recommend; 6 Inputs, 8 Outputs)
• Arduino Mega2560 (more RAM; 6 Inputs, 8 Outputs)
• Arduino Nano328 (small size; 6 Inputs, 8 Outputs)

Guidance

I prepared a wiki page. You can find tons of useful thing there.

• Brief View - Find out what does ArControl look like, and what can ArControl handle with.

• Ready Demos - View how to operate ArControl.

• Installation Guide - Follow it to integrate ArControl into your project.

• PCB Assemble - Assembling a simple PCB is very useful for a hardware platform.

Or you can watch the video tutorial here (Chinese language only/ 中文):

• [How to install] https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1zz4y1U7AY
• [An example]. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV13v411v7TN
• [Another example for optogenetics]. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1yX4y1G7Zs

Contact

Contact me on email chenxinfeng@pku.edu.cn . If you find an issure, open a ticked on it.

Cite This

Academic researchers using ArControl should cite our paper in their works.

• Chen, X., and Li, H. (2017). ArControl: An Arduino-Based Comprehensive Behavioral Platform with Real-Time Performance. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 11, 244. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00244.
• 陈昕枫. (2018). 基于 Arduino 系统的动物行为自动控制平台的构建及其应用 (Master's thesis, 华中科技大学). 中国知网检索

Reference codes

• QFirmata: https://github.com/firmata/protocol
• SCPP_ASSERT from Vladimir Kushnir

Downloads

• Source-code download: https://github.com/chenxinfeng4/ArControl
• Binary-release download: https://github.com/chenxinfeng4/ArControl/releases
• PCB drafts download: https://github.com/chenxinfeng4/ArControl/releases

License

ArControl is released under the GNU LGPL v2.1 license.