Two open source designs for a low‐cost operant chamber using Raspberry Pi™

Gurley built two working operant chambers from cheap parts. One uses a nose-poke wall. The other uses a small touchscreen.

Each box runs on a $35 Raspberry Pi computer. Total cost is under $200. The plans are free online.

He tested the boxes with rats. The animals learned a color-discrimination task and a memory task.

The rats pressed the lights or poked the holes to earn sugar pellets. They learned both tasks just like in pricey commercial boxes.

All data were saved automatically. The Pi boxes worked for weeks with no jams or lost trials.

DAVIS (1961) built a drinkometer from radio parts. Gurley (2019) updates the same low-cost idea for the 21st century, swapping analog circuits for open-source code.

Gilchrist et al. (2018) and Maharaj et al. (2020) also cut costs by using off-the-shelf sensors. They track repetitive behavior with accelerometers or Kinect cameras. Gurley shows the same thrift works inside an operant chamber.

Takahashi et al. (2023) reached a large share accuracy in a classroom using motion sensors. Gurley’s lab result is more modest, but both prove cheap hardware can replace human scoring.

If you run an animal lab or teach behavior analysis, you can now build your own boxes for the price of a textbook. Students can tinker with code, not just press levers. Clinics with tight budgets can pilot new procedures before buying commercial gear. Download the plans, print the parts, and you have a working chamber by next week.