The wide-spread availability of 6 degree of freedom pose tracking using internal-measurement units (IMUs) allows continuous monitoring of an animal's rotational state in an environment. This obviates the need for tether torque measurements to drive an active commutator since the rotational state of the animal is known in real-time, and the commutator can simply follow along. This permits the use of extremely thin coaxial tethers that cannot function with a standard active commutator because they are too flexible to translate rotational torque.
This commutator functions with up to two serialized headstages and miniscopes (which must be on the same body) such as ONIX headstages, and UCLA Miniscope 4.0, that provide orientation data. It can also be used with a coaxial headstage/miniscope without an IMU, e.g. using video-based rotation tracking since its remote control interface is agnostic to how rotational measurements are taken.
For more information, visit the commutator docs.
The following BOM pertains to the commutator's mechanical design. You can find the electronics BOM in the commutator-controller repo.
| Qty. | Part | Part No. | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dual RF Rotary Joint | BN 153127C0001 | SMA-f (50 Ω), DC-18 GHz | link |
| 1 | NEMA 11 motor | 11HS18-0674S | 45mm length, 1.8 deg step angle, ~600mA max | link |
| 1 | 3D printed case | Custom part | 3D printed | link |
| 1 | 3D printed motor gear | Custom part | 3D printed | link |
| 1 | 3D printed commutator gear | Custom part | 3D printed | link |
| 4 | M3.5 x 8mm socket head cap screws | 91290A381 | for attaching rotary joint to case | link |
| 4 | M2.5 x 8mm socket head cap screws | 91290A102 | for attaching motor to case | link |
| 4 | M2.5 x 8mm button head screws | 91239A756 | for attaching PCB to the case | link |
| 1 | Control PCB | - | - | link |
| 1 | eBOM | - | electrical components for assembling the PCB | link |