This week we would like to highlight an event hosted by Hackaday.io: The Open-Source Neuroscience Hardware Hack Chat. Lex Kravitz and Mark Laubach will be available on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at noon Pacific Time to chat with users of Hackaday.io about open-source tools for neuroscience research.

In case you don’t know, Hackaday.io is really awesome project hosting site. Many open-source projects are hosted there that can teach you about microcontrollers, 3D printing, and other makerspace tools. It is so easy to find new ideas for projects and helpful build instructions for your projects on Hackaday.io.

We have previously posted about several popular projects that are hosted on Hackaday.io, such as SignalBuddy, PhotometryBox, and FED. (By the way, FED is now offered through collaboration between the OpenBehavior and OpenEphys projects: https://open-ephys.org/fed3/fed3.) But there are a number of other interesting projects hosted on Hackaday.io that are worth a look.

For example, FORCE (Force Output of Rodent Calibrated Effort) was developed by Bridget Matikainen-Ankney. It can be used in studies with response force controlling reward delivery in behaving rodents.

Another interesting project is the LabRATory Telepresence Robot developed by Brett Smith. It is a robotic system that allows for motion correction in imaging studies done in behaving mice using trackball setups.

Two other cool projects on Hackaday.io provide tools for studying behavior in electric fish, an electric fish detector by Michael Haag and the electric fish piano by Davis Catolico. The electric fish piano can be used to listen to, record, and manipulate the electrical tones made by these kinds of fish.

Finally, there are a couple of projects that could be useful for research and teaching labs, including a project on measuring jumping behavior by grasshoppers by Dieu My Nguyen and a rig for recording central pattern generators in snails by Nancy Sloan.

Check out these projects and let us know what you think! And hope to chat with you next Wednesday.

LINK: https://hackaday.io/event/169511-open-source-neuroscience-hardware-hack-chat