Hedrick Ann V, Hisada Mituhiko, Mulloney Brian
Section of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
J Neurosci Methods. 2007 Aug 15;164(1):86-92. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2007.04.004. Epub 2007 Apr 8.
We have developed an accurate and inexpensive system for recording the path taken by a moving insect. The system consists of a low-mass ball on which the loosely tethered insect runs, an optical sensor to detect rotation of the ball, and software written in Visual Basic 6.0 that interprets and records the hardware's output. The ball floats on a cushion of air. The optical sensor's output is encoded as changes in x, y coordinates. The software monitors this output continually, and records each new x, y pair and the time at which it occurred. Since the system records only those data that have changed, the output files are compact. In its present form, the system is calibrated to detect changes in the animal's position roughly equivalent to one body length. It can accurately record the details of paths hundreds of meters long. We have applied the system to measure the paths taken by female crickets in response to male calls that differ in their temporal structure.
我们开发了一种精确且廉价的系统，用于记录移动昆虫的行进路径。该系统由一个质量较轻的球组成，昆虫被松散地系在球上，一个用于检测球旋转的光学传感器，以及用Visual Basic 6.0编写的软件，该软件可解释并记录硬件的输出。球漂浮在气垫上。光学传感器的输出被编码为x、y坐标的变化。软件持续监控此输出，并记录每一组新的x、y坐标对及其出现的时间。由于该系统仅记录已更改的数据，所以输出文件很紧凑。以其目前的形式，该系统经过校准，可检测动物位置大致相当于一个身体长度的变化。它能够准确记录数百米长路径的细节。我们已应用该系统来测量雌性蟋蟀对具有不同时间结构的雄性叫声做出反应时所采取的路径。
