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Modular electronic neurons for hands on neuroscienceHands on neuroscience
Curriculum Minneapolis, MN
NeuroTinker

Neuroscience you can hold

Build a brain, one neuron at a time.

NeuroBytes are hands on electronic neuron simulators that allow students, makers, and tinkerers to learn about the brain while physically building their own neural circuits, synapse by synapse.

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Open source platform Modular by design Built for classrooms
Students wiring a NeuroBuggy on a classroom table
Kits, cables, and neurons that snap together
A hand holding a NeuroBytes interneuron module Neurons, synapses, and motion

The platform

What are NeuroBytes?

NeuroBytes are hands on electronic neuron simulators that allow students, makers, and tinkerers to learn about the brain while physically building their own neural circuits, synapse by synapse.

Each module represents a real cell type. Cables stand in for synapses. Build a light seeking buggy, a reflex arc, or a memory circuit, then change the wiring and watch the behavior change with it.

  • Sense the environment with photoreceptor, touch, and force modules.
  • Integrate signals with interneurons and tonic neurons.
  • Drive motion with motor neurons and micro servos.

Meet every module

Kickstarter campaign success badge

NeuroBytes began with a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Signal flow

How do NeuroBytes circuits work?

In the NeuroBytes ecosystem, there are modules that sense the environment, integrate that sensation and make memories, and turn that integration into motion.

Compare the kits
Diagram showing sensory receptor input, integration and memory formation, and effector output
01 / Input

Sensory receptors

Rod photoreceptors, touch sensors, and force sensors turn light and contact into electrical signals.

02 / Integration

Neurons and memory

Interneurons and tonic neurons process the signal, form simple memories, and set the timing of a circuit.

03 / Output

Motion and response

Motor neurons drive servos, so a circuit can move a NeuroBuggy, a model limb, or a classroom build.

The module set

Six neurons, one open system

Every module has a clear role, a visible LED, and connectors that make the wiring easy to change.

See the full module guide

Interneuron

The main processing element in a NeuroBytes network. Interneurons receive inputs via dendrites, display status using an LED, and send outputs to downstream NeuroBytes through the axon terminal.

Rod photoreceptor

Detects changes in ambient light using a photocell. This board can be calibrated using the on board Zero and Span buttons to reflect ambient conditions, and sends information to downstream NeuroBytes via two output connectors.

Tonic neuron

Acts as a pacemaker, providing an adjustable regular sequence of action potentials that can be used to excite or inhibit downstream NeuroBytes. The Tonic Neuron also receives bias signals on its single dendrite input.

Motor neuron

Connects NeuroBytes networks to servo motors, allowing the network to produce motion. Motor Neurons receive inputs via three equally weighted dendrites and display status using an LED.

Touch sensory neuron

Detects inputs using the attached switch. Touching the switch causes Touch Sensory Neurons to fire, sending information to downstream NeuroBytes via the two axon terminal connectors.

Force sensory neuron

Detects inputs using an onboard force sensitive resistor. The Force Sensory Neuron varies its firing rate based on the pressure applied to the resistor, flashing its LED to indicate activity and sending action potentials to downstream NeuroBytes through the two axon terminal connections.

From the lab notebook

Circuits you can build today

Short builds from the NeuroTinker team, each one focused on a single neural behavior.

Browse all experiments
NeuroBytes Circuits · September 21, 2018

Disinhibition

Two tonic neurons and a sensory input produce an irregular firing pattern.

Read the build

Kits

For the classroom and the workbench

Kits include the modules, cables, storage, and printed experiment guide needed to start building.

See all eight kits
Physiology kit

Skin Kit

A physiology kit built around touch and pressure. Build a skin circuit, watch the signal travel, and see a servo respond.

$99.00 View the kit
Physiology kit

Eye Kit

Explore the retina with photoreceptors, interneurons, and a motor output. The kit adds a cut and assemble eye cutaway and a brain cap.

$139.00 View the kit
Engineering kit

NeuroBuggy Kit

A wheeled robot driven entirely by NeuroBytes. Build light seeking and touch avoiding behaviors with the modules in the kit.

$199.00 View the kit

Stay in the loop

Build notes, new circuits, and classroom ideas.

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