Hey there!
Newby user here, just started playing around with Arduino-things with all the community help, but in the shadows. At some point I saw the potential to create my own automated reward system to deliver sweet water to my beloved experimental subjets.
The goal was to create a very simple & cheap device that:
- Detects when any of the two Infrared beams are broken.
- Delivers a certaint amount of fluid through the corresponding licking port.
- Give a visual cue (for experimenters) that indicates IR beam has been broken.
- Gives visual cues about mode selection.
- Allows easy mode selection through Keypad.
- Allows different working protocols: Habituation, Training, Experimenta, FillingAndCleaning.
- Can be reseted easily for next participant.
And it works. I have it already mounted (in an also selfbuilt T-maze). Mice are detected and single drops of water are delivered.
The picture shown so far is the corresponding to the previous wiring (for pumps instead of solenoid valves). All the components can be found for way less than 100€. Here is the list (links could not be exact items, but equivalent):
- Elegoo UNO R3: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01EWOE0UU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- BreadBoard + Acrylic base: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B018FMYDCK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- 9V 1A Wall power supply: https://www.amazon.de/Elegoo-Netzteil-Ladegerät-100V-240V-Adapter/dp/B06XBXZ1SK/ref=pd_bxgy_147_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GATFARHNE8XR9YAGKTJB
- 2x InfraRed beams (5mm): Overview | IR Breakbeam Sensors | Adafruit Learning System
- 2x Mini-Solenoid valves: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00JR6PGY8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- 2x regular Red LED
- 4x 1KOhm resistors
- 2x TIP120 Transistors
- 2x 1N4001 diodes
- Jumper wires
- Additional plastic tubing, wires and laboratory sample tubes would be required to complete the set-up.
I am sharing the code. Would love to recieve feedback to improve it. As hints, things that I have in mind but I'm not sure if i will implement in a short-term: Small screen display, SDcard port, barcode/NFC reader, additional effectors for delivering solids/odors, light cues...
Cheers!
Autoreward2.ino (9.65 KB)
Autoreward2 schematic.pdf (1.17 MB)