This week, we continue our exploration of the impact of open-source tools in neuroscience. In our last post, we reported on tools used to measure behavior. You can find that summary here.
This week, we dive a bit more deeply into these devices and report on those used in studies of freely moving animals. In our next two posts, we will report on tools used for homecage studies and experiments using head-fixed preparations.
The word cloud shown above represents web page hits for posts on 45 projects that reported novel open-source devices for studies in freely moving animals. The most active project is the DualPortLickDetector, featured in our last blog post and described here.
Ten other tools have also been of interest to the community:
- Motorized Swivel
- A 3D-printed, motorized commutator for neural recordings of small animals in vivo.
- We posted about it in May 2021 (here).
- optoPAD
- A high-throughput system for closed-loop optogenetic manipulation of neurons in Drosophila.
- We posted about it in June 2019 (here).
- Feldman Lickometer
- A low-cost lickometer for studies in rodents. One of the earliest posts on OpenBehavior, still read in 2025.
- We posted about it in August 2016 (here).
- TetrODrive
- A 3D-printed microdrive for electrophysiology and optophysiology in rodents.
- We posted about it in August 2021 (here).
- CapSensor
- A capacitive touch sensor developed for studies using rodents and useful for other species too.
- We posted about it in March 2021 (here).
- CatalepsyBar
- A behavioral device for assessing catalepsy in freely moving rodents.
- We posted about it in August 2020 (here).
- DIY-NAMIC
- An Arduino-based integrated system for testing rodents in operant procedures, including in the homecage.
- We posted about it in September 2020 (here).
- Touchscreen Cognition
- An open-source and commercially supported system for using touchscreens for behavioral testing in multiple species.
- We posted about it in November 2019 (here).
- pyOS-5
- A Python-based operant system for testing using the five-choice serial reaction-time design.
- We posted about it in December 2021 (here).
- HASRA
- A Home-Cage Automated Skilled Reaching Apparatus for rodent studies of handedness and reaching.
- We posted about it in October 2020 (here).
You can explore more of these devices in the Measurement category of our database: LINK.