FlyPad user manual
FlyPad measures the feeding behaviour of individual Drosophila automatically, sip by sip, with capacitive sensors. FlyPad Acquisition is the single program for the whole workflow: it records from the FlyPad, films and tracks the flies, drives OptoPad optogenetic stimulation, lets you review recordings, and analyses them.
New to FlyPad? Start with the Quick start.
| Chapter | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 1. System overview | How FlyPad works; system components; channel layout |
| 2. Installation | Installing FlyPad Acquisition and the USB driver |
| 3. Hardware setup | Basestation, arena modules, bench and environment, first check |
| 4. Assay preparation | Food, flies, loading, timing, cleaning |
| 5. Acquire: recording data | Connecting, live view, recording, file format |
| 6. OptoPad: optogenetic stimulation | Closed-loop and open-loop protocols |
| 7. Video and live tracking | Camera, synchronised video, traces over the image, live fly tracking |
| 8. Review: browsing recordings | Opening and inspecting recorded data; tracking flies in the video; video export |
| 9. Analyze: feeding analysis | Setup wizard, parameters, plots, output files |
| 10. Behaviour analysis | Tracking combined with feeding and OptoPad: walking, place, food visits, stimulation |
| 11. Firmware and maintenance | OptoPad firmware update; service |
| 12. Troubleshooting | Common problems and fixes |
| 13. References | Publications to cite |
Video tutorials: Quick start, Recording and OptoPad, Reviewing data, Analysis — see the videos on each chapter page.
The examples in this manual use a real two-choice experiment: 64 flies choosing between protein (yeast) and carbohydrate (sucrose) food, on two diets (diet A, diet B).