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Using the ANY-maze Relay interface in tests

Introduction

After connecting and testing your ANY-maze Relay interface you'll be ready to actually use it in some tests. How you do this will depend to some extent on the configuration of the relay's ports.

Adding Pellet dispensers to the protocol

For ports which have been configured as Pellet dispenser ports, you will actually use the port in ANY-maze by adding a Pellet dispenser to your protocol, and then select the port on the ANY-maze Relay interface that the pellet dispenser is connected to as the port to use.

Adding output switches to the protocol

To use ports of an ANY-maze Relay interface which have been configured 'output switches' in tests, you will need to add an on/off output to your protocol, and select the port on the ANY-maze Relay interface that the apparatus is connected to as the on/off output's port to use.

When you set up the on/off output in the protocol you will have some options as to what should happen when the output is activated - see figure 1, below.

Figure 1. The options available when setting up an on/off output in the protocol.

Typically you will select the option to Turn the output on, but if you only want the output to turn on for a short period - for example, so a shocker is only on for, say, 1 second - then you can use the option to Turn the output on for the following duration.

Choosing when to activate an output switch

Setting up an on/off output in your protocol will allow ANY-maze to control whatever you have connected to the ANY-maze Relay interface, but this is usually only the first step in using the equipment in your tests - you still need to tell ANY-maze when it should turn the equipment on. In fact, when you set up the on/off output, you can optionally specify that the output should be activated when the test starts, but usually you'll want to activate it when something happens in the test. For example, you might want to wait 30s before delivering a 1s shock, or you might want to switch on a light whenever the animal enters a specific zone, or dispense a pellet whenever the animal presses a lever; whatever the criteria are, you'll need to set up a procedure to wait for the situation to occur and to then activate the output.

Figure 2. Example of a simple procedure which will wait for 30s and then activate the shocker.

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ANY-maze help topic T1073