ANY-maze Help > I/O devices supported by ANY-maze > Ugo Basile instruments supported by ANY-maze > The Ugo Basile Atlantis Platform > Using the Ugo Basile Atlantis Platform

Using the Ugo Basile Atlantis Platform

Introduction

The Ugo Basile Atlantis Platform system consists of up to four platforms which can be controlled independently from within ANY-maze. Specifically, ANY-maze can raise or lower a platform based on conditions in the test.

Setting up a platform in your protocol

From ANY-maze's point of view, an Atlantis Platform is controlled by two on/off outputs - one to raise the platform, and one to lower it. So to add a platform to a protocol, you need to add two on/off outputs for each platform.

Adding the I/O device

First of all, you will first need to tell ANY-maze about the I/O device that you are using to control your Atlantis Platform(s) - probably either a TTL cable or an ANY-maze Digital interface. Make sure this is plugged in to your computer, and then add a new I/O device to your protocol using the Add item button and selecting New I/O device.

Select the device you're using from the drop-list, and then select Configure your device to set up the ports on this device:

•

If you're using a TTL cable, set both Port 1 and Port 2 to be outputs, and set the I/O port active state to Outputs active high.

•

If you're using an ANY-maze Digital interface, set up one pair of ports to be TTL outputs for each platform that you want to control, and set the active state of each port to Active high.

Adding on/off outputs to raise and lower the device

Each platform that you want to control will need two On/off outputs to be added to the protocol (one to raise the platform, and one to lower it). So for each platform, you will need to:

•

Use the

Add item button to add a new On/off output.

•

Name the output (probably something like 'Raise NW platform' or 'Lower NW platform').

•

Specify the action you want to take when the switch is activated. Select Turn the output on for the following duration, and enter a time period for the pulse (the manufacturer's suggestion is 500ms). This will pulse the output on, and cause the platform to be raised or lowered.

•

Specify the state the switch should be in at the start of the test. If you want the platform to be raised at the start of the test, you should select Activate when the test starts for the 'Raise platform' output, and un-select it for the 'Lower platform' output switch.

•

The On/off output item in the protocol list will have a sub-element called Port to use, and selecting it will allow you to specify which of your outputs will perform this action. Make sure that you select the port that's connected to the relevant 'Up' or 'Down' connection, depending on whether the output switch should raise or lower the platform.

Repeat all of the above to make sure you have one on/off output to raise the platform, and one to lower it.

Raising and lowering the platform

Adding on/off outputs to your protocol is one step in setting up your Atlantis Platform, but this will just set the platform to be either raised or lowered at the start of the test. So how do you raise (or lower) the platform during the test? The answer is that you use a procedure.

Specifically, you would create a procedure which would first detect the conditions under which you would like to alter the platform state, and then change the state of one of the platform's 'on/off outputs' to raise or lower the platform.

For example, if you want to raise the platform after the animal has spent 30 seconds in the NW quadrant, then you would create a procedure which would wait until the animal has spent this long in the zone and then perform an action to activate the 'Raise NW quadrant platform' switch.