Closing the loop in legged neuromechanics: an open-source computer vision controlled treadmill.

The neural circuitry that controls legged locomotion is exquisitely state dependent. The response to a perturbation at one phase of the locomotor cycle is very different from another. As such, tools that enable closed loop experiments in which freely moving animals can be precisely perturbed, either neurally or mechanically, will improve our ability to probe the locomotor control architecture.