State Matrix
What's that?
Each Bpod trial is programmed as a virtual finite state machine. This ensures precise timing of events - for any state machine you program, state transitions will be completed in less than 100 microseconds - so inefficient coding won't reduce the precision of events in your data.
Introduction to the Bpod state machine
Each state describes Bpod's outputs (Valves, LEDs, BNC channels, wire terminals, serial ports, etc.).
Events detected by Bpod's inputs can be set to trigger transitions between specific states.
Here is a simple finite state machine, describing a binary switch that controls a bulb with variable brightness:
