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workloopR

Free plan Linux

What workloopR is

workloopR is a free R package for importing, transforming, and analyzing muscle physiology experiments on Linux desktop systems. It supports work loop, simple twitch, and tetanus studies. The package imports .ddf files, including those generated by Aurora Scientific’s Dynamic Muscle Control and Analysis Software; other formats must be converted into muscle_stim objects by the user. Before analysis, users can correct the motor arm gear ratio or the direction of muscle length change and assign work loop cycles with different definitions. Its analyze_workloop function calculates per-cycle instantaneous velocity, net work, instantaneous power, and net power. For twitch and tetanus trials, isometric_timing summarizes force timing and magnitude. Batch functions can import work loop files from a directory, select cycles, correct gear ratios, and calculate work and power. workloopR has no plotting functions, but its output objects are designed for use with base-R plotting or tidyverse functions. Installation instructions cover CRAN and GitHub. It is licensed under GPL (>= 3).

Who it suits

It suits muscle physiology researchers working with work loop, twitch, or tetanus experiments who use R. Users working with non-.ddf data need to construct muscle_stim objects themselves.

What it does well

Supports work loop, twitch, and tetanus experiments
Calculates per-cycle work, power, and velocity
Batch functions process work loop files in directories
Free plan; available for Linux desktop

What to know first

Non-.ddf formats require user-built muscle_stim objects
The package does not provide plotting functions

Verdict

workloopR offers analysis and batch-processing functions for several muscle physiology experiment types. Its lack of built-in plotting and requirement to prepare other formats as muscle_stim objects are important considerations.

Facts from workloopR's own pages

Batch processing: Batch functions can import, select cycles, correct gear ratios, and compute work and power for work loop files in a directory. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Data correction: Users can correct the motor arm gear ratio and the direction of muscle length change before analysis. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Data import: The package imports .ddf files, including files generated by Aurora Scientific’s Dynamic Muscle Control and Analysis Software. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Deployment: desktop · docs.ropensci.org, 23 Sept 2026
Experiment types: It supports work loop, simple twitch, and tetanus experiments. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Free plan: Yes · docs.ropensci.org, 23 Sept 2026
Import: The package easily imports .ddf files, including files generated by Aurora Scientific’s Dynamic Muscle Control and Analysis Software. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Installation: The documentation gives installation instructions for CRAN and GitHub. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Install options: The package can be installed from CRAN or from GitHub using devtools::install_github("ropensci/workloopR"). · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Intended users: The package is for researchers studying muscle physiology who use work loop, twitch, or tetanus experiments. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Isometric analysis: isometric_timing summarizes the timing and magnitude of force production during tetanus or twitch trials. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
License: workloopR is licensed under GPL (>= 3). · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Maintainer: Vikram B. Baliga is listed as author and maintainer, and Shreeram Senthivasan is listed as an author. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Other file formats: Other data formats must be constructed by the user into muscle_stim objects. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Other formats: Other file formats must be constructed by the user into muscle_stim objects. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Plotting: The package does not provide plotting functions; its output objects are designed to work with base-R plotting or tidyverse functions. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Purpose: workloopR provides R functions to import, transform, and analyze muscle physiology experiments. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Scripting support: Yes · docs.ropensci.org, 23 Sept 2026
Support: The maintainers welcome feedback and feature requests, especially requests for importing non-ddf file types. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Supported experiments: The package supports work loop, simple twitch, and tetanus experiments. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Transformations: Users can correct motor arm gear ratio or muscle length-change direction and label work loop cycles using different cycle definitions. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026
Work loop analysis: analyze_workloop computes per-cycle instantaneous velocity, net work, instantaneous power, and net power. · docs.ropensci.org, 12 Oct 2026

Where workloopR stands on Freedom251

Statistical Analysis Software#84 of 106