Design Timeline
Weekly Updates
4/12/19 - This week, the final cage was completed. The new design accounts for the extra unobstructed room needed for full viewing of the screen. Zoe and Ellie met with Prof. Klaesner to pick up some components from his lab and he helped solder a few elements including the power connector. Ellie worked on coding the software that will run all of the arduino components together, Sara learned how to download Raspian onto the SD card and how to set up the screens. Zoe and Ellie worked on soldering the final components of the touch sensor/valve circuit to the breadboard and Zoe completed the soldering. Zoe and Ellie were able to test the touch sensor/valves and showed that each touch sensor independently controlled a specific valve.
4/5/19 - This week, the group met on Monday to incorporate the second solenoid valve into our water delivery circuit. Additionally, Sara researched the use of the Raspberry Pi, and Ellie developed python code that will display the videos that Sam presents us. On Tuesday, the group skyped with Steve (a professor from Brandeis), along with Dr. Hengen and Sam. Steve suggested using a curved monitor to dispay the visual stimuli to the mice in order to make sure the images are in their range of vision. We decided to change the back wall of our cage to a continuous silicon wall, so it would be entirely transparent and not broken up by a metal rod in the center (this rod would interfere with the mouse’s vision). On Wednesday morning, Ellie and Zoe met with Klaesner in Widder’s lab. We decided to tie all the grounds together in our water delivery circuit, and also organize the circuit into a PCB box. Ellie and Zoe will be meeting with Klaesner on the med campus on Friday to implement these changes.
3/29/19 - This week, we worked on the new screen setup that we will be using. We will no longer have two separate small screens, but rather one large monitor that will display both images on it. This monitor will be controlled by a raspberry pi along with all the other Arduino setups, sticking with the original plan. Sara Laser cut the final cage design with Kristen at the Hengen lab and worked on the raspberry pi setup with the monitor. Ellie and Zoe met on Tuesday to do the verification of water delivery, but the second solenoid valve was broken. Ellie figured out why the solenoid valves kept breaking and began looking for solutions, including redesigning the circuit and getting a new valve that works with DC currents. Ellie also wrote code to control the speakers with Arduino. Zoe worked on writing pseudocode for controlling the overall water delivery system. The team decided that writing actual code at this point would not be helpful because we would have no way of testing it without a working solenoid valve. Zoe and Ellie are meeting with Professor Klaesner and Professor Widder later today (3/29) to solder the capacitive sensor elements. Additionally, Sara set up a meeting with Dr. Steve Hooser and the whole team, which will take place on Tuesday at 2:30PM EST
3/22/19 - This week we focused on making progress with the cage design but after further discussion with the client, we will likely be redesigning the cage. In order for the screen to provide the desired visual stimulus, it must occupy particular regions of their visual field. Sara spoke with Steve Van Hooser, a professor at Brandeis, about the visual field of a mouse. Steve informed us that the mouse’s binocular visual field is the 60 degrees immediately in front of them and the rest of the field is exclusively monocular vision. Originally, the cage was going to be designed with the screen in the rodent’s binocular field, however the client has shifted the direction of the project. Now the screen should occupy as much of their visual field as possible so that the client can stimulate particular regions of their visual field as desired. We are currently scheduling another call with Steve to determine the final design of the cage and the screens. The walls of the cage had also been designed this week so that they could be easily laser cut, however the laser cutting will also have to be placed on hold until the final design of the cage can be determined by the client. Zoe and Ellie were able to get the capacitive touch sensor working to control the solenoid valve. After the solenoid valve started working, some problems arose and Zoe and Ellie worked on troubleshooting this week. Both valves were tested and it was determined that only one was malfunctioning. Ellie spoke with Betsy to have a new solenoid valve ordered. Zoe has been editing the website for clarity and inputting updates.
3/8/19 - This week, Zoe and Ellie met on Tuesday to continue work on the water delivery system; specifically, we discussed a method to connect the capacitive sensor to the metallic spout. We will use electrical tape to attach a wire to the tip of the spout and connect the other end of the wire to a pad on the capacitive touch sensor breakout board. Additionally, Ellie took pictures of the systems we have put together so far for her Verification and Validation presentation. Ellie also put together pieces for a standard size cage (to practice the construction) with Molly, a member of the Hengen lab. Sam provided us with some helpful sources for water delivery as well – we have added the paper he recommended to the “Articles” folder under “Research” in our notebook, and included his suggested link in “Helpful Links” page in the Food/Water Delivery research folder. Ellie and Sara met Tuesday evening to work on and practice the V&V presentation. The entire group met on Friday afternoon to develop more specific water delivery and screen Arduino code.
3/1/19 - This week, we did proof of concept testing for three of the functions of our final product. First we built a circuit and coded software for the solenoid valve to open and close. Next we built a circuit and coded software for the capacitive sensor. We also tested our ability to control what the screens display at any given time. All the tests were successful.
We continued work on the overall cage assembly, and met with Sam multiple times to go over finalizing details of the project and protocol.
We wrote our validation and verification paper and met with Sam again to confirm that we were on the same page.
2/22/19 - This week we were able to make strides with both the screen and water dispensing system. Sara was able to get the first screen to start working when controlled by an Arduino. So far the screen is only displaying a single color screen but this will be easily changed into a gradient display. Ellie and Zoe worked on the water dispensing system and made progress with the overall design. After a meeting with our client, it was determined that the experiments he hopes to perform with the cage are highly varying. When looking at applying the cage to a variety of studies, it was determined that a key feature of the cage is that it must be modular. We will therefore be controlling each of the different aspects through Arduinos so that components can be added or taken away without greatly affecting the other components. Ellie and Zoe also worked on the design of the tubing to get water from the reservoir to the lick detector. After determining how to optimize this design, the group purchased the remaining components necessary for our project.
2/15/19 - This week, we ordered solenoid valves and Arduinos through the Hengen lab manager. These components will be incorporated in our water delivery system. Additionally, Sara worked on controlling the screens via MATLAB, developing some preliminary code. Zoe and Ellie met on Friday to begin software development for the water delivery system. We will use MATLAB to read input from the capacitive sensor associated with the water spout, and then send a voltage signal to the solenoid valves in order to open them and deliver water to the spout should the rodent pick the correct screen. The group also continued work on the designs for the cage structure; next week, we plan to try out the laser cutter on our designs.
2/8/19 - This week, Ellie and Zoe met on Tuesday to develop pseudo-code for the water delivery system. Additionally, we researched how to control an Arduino with MATLAB. We have decided to do all our coding in MATLAB instead of LabVIEW. We also looked into the costs of different NI boxes. On Wednesday, the whole group met with Prof. Klaesner and discussed the following methods for controlling electronic components: controlling individual components with a set of Arduinos, using a combination of Arduino and Raspberry Pi, converting signals to digital with an NI box and using neither Arduino or Raspberry Pi (and coding in either MATLAB or LabVIEW), and constructing circuits to output digital signals which can be read directly by a laptop with a DIO (for this option we would also code in MATLAB). We have decided to pursue the final option, and developed a schematic for the system that is stored in the 2/6/19 Group Meeting with Klaesner page in labarchives. This Firday, Ellie and Sara are meeting to begin coding and send the list of parts to order to the Hengen Lab manager.
2/1/19 - This week we met with Kristen and she taught us how to use the laser cutter and offered to help us cut the pieces for the cage when we were ready to start construction. She also shared the wustl box files with the laser cutting information in it so we can look through everything on our own time. We continued work on the website and continued to discuss different options for layout of the nose poke hole. When initially designing the nose poke hole with Sam, we all forgot about the head stages that relay the synaptic information to the computers and the cones that protect the head stages. We came up with a solution but we are going to discuss it with Dr. Hengen today to see what he thinks. Sam said he would think about it as well and get back to us. Sara met with the lab manager to discuss NI boxes and LabView and to see if the lab had a computer we could use to run the system. Zoe followed up once again with Nick Olivias and we all continued to look into LabView.
1/25/19 - This week our primary focuses were updating the website, determining cage design, and working on the water dispenser. At our first meeting, various structures for the website were discussed and we finally decided on having a Product page and a Design Process Page which could include both the Design Timeline as well as the Weekly Updates. Each of these pages were then updated as Zoe worked on the descriptions for the page and Sara worked on uploading the Weekly Reports and Timelines. During that time, Ellie focused on researching the best way to construct the valve for water delivery. At our next meeting, cage design alternatives were discussed, and drawings of our final design can be seen in our notebook. Kristen was contacted to teach us how to use the laser cutter but she has been unresponsive. Further research was also done into how the lick detectors will work. Ultimately, Zoe and Ellie reached out to Nick Olivias to consult him on his design for a lick detector.
1/18/19 - This week, we met as a group on Monday in class and created a timeline of steps required to complete our project. We are beginning with the construction of the cage structure and assembling the water delivery apparatus. These steps require us learning to use the Hengen lab laser cutter and acquiring all required components for water delivery. Once the structure and water delivery components are assembled, we will focus on integrating the screens.
On Tuesday, Zoe and Ellie met to discuss water delivery. We developed pseudo code for programming control of the water pump with the beam break, screens, and lick detectors. We also acquired two breadboards to build the lick detector circuit on. The circuit diagram is relatively complicated, so we will be seeking out advice for understanding it. We also asked Sam’s opinion about what to use for the water reservoir, and decided to adapt a valve to fit the current tubes the lab uses to hold the rodents’ water. Supplies for the lick detector arrived in the mail on this day.
On Wednesday, we had a group meeting to discuss the comments on our lab notebook. We decided to keep the useful URLs divided in the different section folders (Food/Water Delivery, Screens, etc…). Sarah will be adding patents to the notebook as well as the progress report presentation, Zoe will be updating the Gantt charts and Research/Contact Info section, and Ellie will be updating the budget based off the parts that we have ordered. Motors for the water delivery arrived on this day.
On Thursday, our group met with Dr. Klaesner - notes for this meeting are in our lab notebook. Most notably, we decided to control our water delivery components and the screens with a laptop and LabVIEW software, rather than a Raspberry Pi. We will also be coordinating with Dr. Klaesner if we run into issues with circuit construction to seek his input. We will need to acquire a NI DAQ box to read inputs into LabVIEW.
On Friday, our group met to update the lab website and notebook. Notes for this meeting can be found on the lab notebook as well.
4/5/19 - This week, the group met on Monday to incorporate the second solenoid valve into our water delivery circuit. Additionally, Sara researched the use of the Raspberry Pi, and Ellie developed python code that will display the videos that Sam presents us. On Tuesday, the group skyped with Steve (a professor from Brandeis), along with Dr. Hengen and Sam. Steve suggested using a curved monitor to dispay the visual stimuli to the mice in order to make sure the images are in their range of vision. We decided to change the back wall of our cage to a continuous silicon wall, so it would be entirely transparent and not broken up by a metal rod in the center (this rod would interfere with the mouse’s vision). On Wednesday morning, Ellie and Zoe met with Klaesner in Widder’s lab. We decided to tie all the grounds together in our water delivery circuit, and also organize the circuit into a PCB box. Ellie and Zoe will be meeting with Klaesner on the med campus on Friday to implement these changes.
3/29/19 - This week, we worked on the new screen setup that we will be using. We will no longer have two separate small screens, but rather one large monitor that will display both images on it. This monitor will be controlled by a raspberry pi along with all the other Arduino setups, sticking with the original plan. Sara Laser cut the final cage design with Kristen at the Hengen lab and worked on the raspberry pi setup with the monitor. Ellie and Zoe met on Tuesday to do the verification of water delivery, but the second solenoid valve was broken. Ellie figured out why the solenoid valves kept breaking and began looking for solutions, including redesigning the circuit and getting a new valve that works with DC currents. Ellie also wrote code to control the speakers with Arduino. Zoe worked on writing pseudocode for controlling the overall water delivery system. The team decided that writing actual code at this point would not be helpful because we would have no way of testing it without a working solenoid valve. Zoe and Ellie are meeting with Professor Klaesner and Professor Widder later today (3/29) to solder the capacitive sensor elements. Additionally, Sara set up a meeting with Dr. Steve Hooser and the whole team, which will take place on Tuesday at 2:30PM EST
3/22/19 - This week we focused on making progress with the cage design but after further discussion with the client, we will likely be redesigning the cage. In order for the screen to provide the desired visual stimulus, it must occupy particular regions of their visual field. Sara spoke with Steve Van Hooser, a professor at Brandeis, about the visual field of a mouse. Steve informed us that the mouse’s binocular visual field is the 60 degrees immediately in front of them and the rest of the field is exclusively monocular vision. Originally, the cage was going to be designed with the screen in the rodent’s binocular field, however the client has shifted the direction of the project. Now the screen should occupy as much of their visual field as possible so that the client can stimulate particular regions of their visual field as desired. We are currently scheduling another call with Steve to determine the final design of the cage and the screens. The walls of the cage had also been designed this week so that they could be easily laser cut, however the laser cutting will also have to be placed on hold until the final design of the cage can be determined by the client. Zoe and Ellie were able to get the capacitive touch sensor working to control the solenoid valve. After the solenoid valve started working, some problems arose and Zoe and Ellie worked on troubleshooting this week. Both valves were tested and it was determined that only one was malfunctioning. Ellie spoke with Betsy to have a new solenoid valve ordered. Zoe has been editing the website for clarity and inputting updates.
3/8/19 - This week, Zoe and Ellie met on Tuesday to continue work on the water delivery system; specifically, we discussed a method to connect the capacitive sensor to the metallic spout. We will use electrical tape to attach a wire to the tip of the spout and connect the other end of the wire to a pad on the capacitive touch sensor breakout board. Additionally, Ellie took pictures of the systems we have put together so far for her Verification and Validation presentation. Ellie also put together pieces for a standard size cage (to practice the construction) with Molly, a member of the Hengen lab. Sam provided us with some helpful sources for water delivery as well – we have added the paper he recommended to the “Articles” folder under “Research” in our notebook, and included his suggested link in “Helpful Links” page in the Food/Water Delivery research folder. Ellie and Sara met Tuesday evening to work on and practice the V&V presentation. The entire group met on Friday afternoon to develop more specific water delivery and screen Arduino code.
3/1/19 - This week, we did proof of concept testing for three of the functions of our final product. First we built a circuit and coded software for the solenoid valve to open and close. Next we built a circuit and coded software for the capacitive sensor. We also tested our ability to control what the screens display at any given time. All the tests were successful.
We continued work on the overall cage assembly, and met with Sam multiple times to go over finalizing details of the project and protocol.
We wrote our validation and verification paper and met with Sam again to confirm that we were on the same page.
2/22/19 - This week we were able to make strides with both the screen and water dispensing system. Sara was able to get the first screen to start working when controlled by an Arduino. So far the screen is only displaying a single color screen but this will be easily changed into a gradient display. Ellie and Zoe worked on the water dispensing system and made progress with the overall design. After a meeting with our client, it was determined that the experiments he hopes to perform with the cage are highly varying. When looking at applying the cage to a variety of studies, it was determined that a key feature of the cage is that it must be modular. We will therefore be controlling each of the different aspects through Arduinos so that components can be added or taken away without greatly affecting the other components. Ellie and Zoe also worked on the design of the tubing to get water from the reservoir to the lick detector. After determining how to optimize this design, the group purchased the remaining components necessary for our project.
2/15/19 - This week, we ordered solenoid valves and Arduinos through the Hengen lab manager. These components will be incorporated in our water delivery system. Additionally, Sara worked on controlling the screens via MATLAB, developing some preliminary code. Zoe and Ellie met on Friday to begin software development for the water delivery system. We will use MATLAB to read input from the capacitive sensor associated with the water spout, and then send a voltage signal to the solenoid valves in order to open them and deliver water to the spout should the rodent pick the correct screen. The group also continued work on the designs for the cage structure; next week, we plan to try out the laser cutter on our designs.
2/8/19 - This week, Ellie and Zoe met on Tuesday to develop pseudo-code for the water delivery system. Additionally, we researched how to control an Arduino with MATLAB. We have decided to do all our coding in MATLAB instead of LabVIEW. We also looked into the costs of different NI boxes. On Wednesday, the whole group met with Prof. Klaesner and discussed the following methods for controlling electronic components: controlling individual components with a set of Arduinos, using a combination of Arduino and Raspberry Pi, converting signals to digital with an NI box and using neither Arduino or Raspberry Pi (and coding in either MATLAB or LabVIEW), and constructing circuits to output digital signals which can be read directly by a laptop with a DIO (for this option we would also code in MATLAB). We have decided to pursue the final option, and developed a schematic for the system that is stored in the 2/6/19 Group Meeting with Klaesner page in labarchives. This Firday, Ellie and Sara are meeting to begin coding and send the list of parts to order to the Hengen Lab manager.
2/1/19 - This week we met with Kristen and she taught us how to use the laser cutter and offered to help us cut the pieces for the cage when we were ready to start construction. She also shared the wustl box files with the laser cutting information in it so we can look through everything on our own time. We continued work on the website and continued to discuss different options for layout of the nose poke hole. When initially designing the nose poke hole with Sam, we all forgot about the head stages that relay the synaptic information to the computers and the cones that protect the head stages. We came up with a solution but we are going to discuss it with Dr. Hengen today to see what he thinks. Sam said he would think about it as well and get back to us. Sara met with the lab manager to discuss NI boxes and LabView and to see if the lab had a computer we could use to run the system. Zoe followed up once again with Nick Olivias and we all continued to look into LabView.
1/25/19 - This week our primary focuses were updating the website, determining cage design, and working on the water dispenser. At our first meeting, various structures for the website were discussed and we finally decided on having a Product page and a Design Process Page which could include both the Design Timeline as well as the Weekly Updates. Each of these pages were then updated as Zoe worked on the descriptions for the page and Sara worked on uploading the Weekly Reports and Timelines. During that time, Ellie focused on researching the best way to construct the valve for water delivery. At our next meeting, cage design alternatives were discussed, and drawings of our final design can be seen in our notebook. Kristen was contacted to teach us how to use the laser cutter but she has been unresponsive. Further research was also done into how the lick detectors will work. Ultimately, Zoe and Ellie reached out to Nick Olivias to consult him on his design for a lick detector.
1/18/19 - This week, we met as a group on Monday in class and created a timeline of steps required to complete our project. We are beginning with the construction of the cage structure and assembling the water delivery apparatus. These steps require us learning to use the Hengen lab laser cutter and acquiring all required components for water delivery. Once the structure and water delivery components are assembled, we will focus on integrating the screens.
On Tuesday, Zoe and Ellie met to discuss water delivery. We developed pseudo code for programming control of the water pump with the beam break, screens, and lick detectors. We also acquired two breadboards to build the lick detector circuit on. The circuit diagram is relatively complicated, so we will be seeking out advice for understanding it. We also asked Sam’s opinion about what to use for the water reservoir, and decided to adapt a valve to fit the current tubes the lab uses to hold the rodents’ water. Supplies for the lick detector arrived in the mail on this day.
On Wednesday, we had a group meeting to discuss the comments on our lab notebook. We decided to keep the useful URLs divided in the different section folders (Food/Water Delivery, Screens, etc…). Sarah will be adding patents to the notebook as well as the progress report presentation, Zoe will be updating the Gantt charts and Research/Contact Info section, and Ellie will be updating the budget based off the parts that we have ordered. Motors for the water delivery arrived on this day.
On Thursday, our group met with Dr. Klaesner - notes for this meeting are in our lab notebook. Most notably, we decided to control our water delivery components and the screens with a laptop and LabVIEW software, rather than a Raspberry Pi. We will also be coordinating with Dr. Klaesner if we run into issues with circuit construction to seek his input. We will need to acquire a NI DAQ box to read inputs into LabVIEW.
On Friday, our group met to update the lab website and notebook. Notes for this meeting can be found on the lab notebook as well.
Fall Semester
11/30/18 - Over the past two weeks, the team has met multiple times to prepare for the progress report. Each team member did individual research on different options for the design of the cage as well as everyone coming up with a layout for the cage. We had a video conversation with Gregory Guitchounts who also studies neuropathways in rodents. He designed his own water automation system and he gave us advice on how we should design ours and general advice when it comes to designing a cage for water deprived animals. He sent us a few papers and some designs that he uses in his work. He told us to keep in contact and to reach out if we needed any help. Once we fleshed out a couple designs and had options we met with Sam to get his input and see what he thought about the design. After talking with him we came up with a new layout of the cage that addressed multiple issues that we had been having. We also met with Lucy, who is working on lights and sound for the Hengen lab. She is working on creating a more natural light cycle for the rodents as they are in their cages. After hearing what our design was, she said she can easily implement her work in our design, so we do not have to worry about that going forward. We wrote the progress report and are going to follow up with Sam and Dr. Hengen once the report is finished and go from there.
11/16/18 - This week, we found an automated water system pet kit on amazon, a patent for an automated food dispenser, a few papers on automated food and water delivery, a Campden instruments chamber for rodent operant conditioning with screens, a paper about sensor integration into a rodent cage environment, a paper on controlling the light and dark environment for a rodent during a behavioral study, a paper on monitoring the temperature and humidity in a rodent cage, and temperature controllers and monitors from Braintree. Additionally, we followed up with Greg again and heard from him on Thursday. We have set up a phone call with him so we can talk further about his setup.
11/9/18 - This week, Zoe emailed Gregg once again about obtaining the part information about his automated water delivery apparatus. Will we also be contacting Dr. Hengen about getting in contact with Gregg, as he may know of a more reliable method for contacting. This week, we found two new articles: one describing a mouse motivational system that successfully employs touchscreens, and another that describes high throughput cages that quantify rodent movement through photo beam arrays and/or overhead video tracking, two components we are considering in the design of our cage. Additionally, we found a link to a site selling components for building an automated watering system for research animals and an article detailing a cage that successfully integrated a screen for rodent conditioning. On the temperature/humidity front, we discovered a site selling small laboratory animal environment warning systems, and a site selling a cage designed for maintaining small animal body temperature.
11/2/18 - This week, we found some useful websites selling automated animal research products. These websites will be useful for developing an automated feeding system for our cage. In terms of water delivery, we sent a follow-up email to Gregg about receiving more information on his lab’s water dispensing system. We hope to hear back soon so we can develop a list of required parts that we can order before winter break. Additionally, we emailed the Hengen lab to set up a time to learn how to use the lab’s laser cutter. We continue to add to our webpage, and will be developing our own preliminary diagram of the cage to add to the site.
10/26/18 - This week our group focused on identifying the first testing protocol that we would be completing using our designed cage. In order to make sure that our ideas were in line with what the Hengen lab’s desires, all three group members met with Sam to present our ideas of the first protocol and get his feedback since it will primarily be his study that we are aiding. Sam informed us that the first goal of the test will be to have the rat respond to visual stimuli, so the screens will be one of our top priorities along with food and water control. It will be ideal to have the screens on two walls that are touching and have a single water source in the corner between the screens. This setup will allow for the rat to learn quicker because we minimize the steps that they will have to take between the task and being rewarded. Another interesting and surprising decision that was made was that for the first protocol, we should have the rat complete the training protocol at a set time each day, rather than having the rat start training on their own whenever they enter the specified training zone. With a clear first protocol, this will hopefully make the first steps of our prototype design easier because we can more clearly identify our top priorities. Additionally, this week we created our website and began to brain storm ideas for the name of our device. One idea that we came up with is the R.A.T. Cage which would stand for the Rodent Automated Training Cage. We would appreciate some feedback if this would be a good title for our product.
10/19/18 - This week, we heard back form Dr. Hengen with the contact information of the people in his lab we are going to reach out to with questions about certain aspects of our project. We reached out to Greg for help and guidance on the water restriction portion. We also reached out to Sam, following Dr. Hengen's advice and asked him about the first behavioral task he wants to try so we can have a goal in mind for what the first trial should be able to do going forward.
Our plan is to meet with Sam next week and look into more specifics based on the first study he wants to conduct. We also hope to meet with Greg if possible next week, but if that is not possible we will just continue to correspond with him via email. We are also going to set up times to meet over the next couple weeks with Lucy, Betsy, and Kristen to familiarize ourself with certain aspects of the Hengen Lab. Additionally, over this weekend we are going to get the Web Page URL so that it is ready to hand in on Oct 22nd.
Our plan is to meet with Sam next week and look into more specifics based on the first study he wants to conduct. We also hope to meet with Greg if possible next week, but if that is not possible we will just continue to correspond with him via email. We are also going to set up times to meet over the next couple weeks with Lucy, Betsy, and Kristen to familiarize ourself with certain aspects of the Hengen Lab. Additionally, over this weekend we are going to get the Web Page URL so that it is ready to hand in on Oct 22nd.
10/12/18 - This week we focused on preparing for our preliminary report presentation and planning future training. Zoe was scheduled to present the preliminary report on Wednesday, so each of the group members helped to create the slides corresponding to the section of the paper that we were responsible. We then discussed the key topics for each slide and Zoe rehearsed her presentation for us twice. By working as a group on this, we were able to share all of the knowledge from the articles that we have each read and help make the presentation as clear and effective as possible.
Going forward, our next primary goal is to learn various techniques and practices that are commonly used in the Hengen lab so that we can easily integrate our product into their work. The key people that we will need to work with in the lab are Greg, a professor who Dr. Hengen will put us in contact with, who has designed a water pump that can control the amount of water given to the rat at various time points. By studying his papers and even talking with this professor, we can more efficiently control the amount of water available to our test rat. Two other key people that we will be talking to are Lucy and Kristen, both undergraduates working in the Hengen lab. Lucy will guide us on the light and sound control methods that they are currently trying and Kristen will teach us how they use the laser cutter to create the walls of the cages. This week Zoe contacted Dr. Hengen to set up meetings with each of these key people so that we can enter the training phase of our prototype development process.
Going forward, our next primary goal is to learn various techniques and practices that are commonly used in the Hengen lab so that we can easily integrate our product into their work. The key people that we will need to work with in the lab are Greg, a professor who Dr. Hengen will put us in contact with, who has designed a water pump that can control the amount of water given to the rat at various time points. By studying his papers and even talking with this professor, we can more efficiently control the amount of water available to our test rat. Two other key people that we will be talking to are Lucy and Kristen, both undergraduates working in the Hengen lab. Lucy will guide us on the light and sound control methods that they are currently trying and Kristen will teach us how they use the laser cutter to create the walls of the cages. This week Zoe contacted Dr. Hengen to set up meetings with each of these key people so that we can enter the training phase of our prototype development process.
10/5/18 - This week, we gathered patent searches and scientific papers detailing existing automatic cage designs. We incorporated these sources into our preliminary report due Friday. Additionally, we met with Dr. Hengen on Tuesday to discuss the potential experiments his lab will use the cage for. Dr. Hengen suggested we explore Adafruit’s products when searching for an infrared beam sensor, as well as use capacitors instead of touch screens to detect rodent contact with various cage components. He also stressed the utility of continuous data acquisition in the cage; data acquired when the rodent is not explicitly “training” still informs researchers of the overall environment and potential confounding influences on the rat’s neural processes.
9/28/18 - This week, we revised and received feedback on our project scope assignment – we will be adding the units we forgot to one of our design specifications. On Monday, we met with the whole team to make a plan for the preliminary report. We went through each of the prompts of the report, brainstormed, and Zoe jotted down notes that she added to the notebook. We sent emails to Sam (the graduate student we are working with) and Dr. Hengen, and confirmed that Sara and Ellie will meet with Sam this Friday to narrow in on the design specifications. Next Tuesday, the whole team will meet with Dr. Hengen to run our preliminary report draft by him.
9/21/18 - This week, we focused on reading papers that Sam Brunwasser sent to us pertaining to methods of training mice. Each of us read one of the papers and took extensive notes which are in the process of being put into the lab notebook. The group has planned to meet up this weekend (9/22 or 9/23) to discuss the papers and plan the next steps.
9/14/18 - This week we were able to make strides in understanding the client's desires and the importance of each aspect to the overall design. After confirming the Keith Hengen is our client, we met with Sam Brunwasser, a PhD candidate in the Hengen Lab who works closely with the rats. Sam was able to provide us with a "wish list" of what he would most like to see incorporated into the rate cage while also giving us context of how those aspects will aid their research. Some of the most important parts of the design are controlling factors such as light, sound, temperature, and humidity. It will also be important to regulate how the rats are fed, both for their typical meals as well as giving them treats to condition their behavior. Lastly, it will be important that the cage is versatile and can be manipulated so that specific aspects can be added or taken away for different types of experiments. This will primarily take the form of a removable wall of the cage that can have either screens, a plastic wall with a lever for food, or even a sound-proof barrier. Going forward, we will be looking for more papers written on the process of automated animal behavior training and ironing out the specifications with Sam and Keith to identify the scope of our project.