Overview
An animal behavior lab called SMART-BARN uses motion-capture cameras to track the movements and behaviors of entire flocks of birds or swarms of insects. The lab, resembling a Hollywood motion-capture studio, is built inside a converted barn and is equipped with 30 infrared cameras. It can track up to 500 individual markers attached to animals’ bodies and also has the ability to track animals without any markers using computer vision software based on artificial intelligence. The lab offers a controlled environment while still allowing animals to move and interact naturally.
Tracking and Research
The SMART-BARN lab has been used to track the real-time locations and body poses of various animals, including homing pigeons, starlings, and African death’s head hawkmoths. Motion-tracking markers were attached to their heads or tiny backpacks that hold the trackers. Through these studies, researchers were able to study collective attention, foraging behaviors, and synchronization among the animals. Despite some difficulties with the starlings ruining the markers, the lab has provided valuable data for studying predator-prey interactions and animal group behaviors such as leadership, communication, and cooperation.
Limitations and Future Plans
While the indoor lab has its advantages, such as controlled conditions and close observation of animal behavior, it is still too small to study animal behaviors involving long-distance migration or large-scale movements. However, the lab experience has inspired the researchers to build an even larger facility capable of tracking the behavior of 10,000 swarming locusts without any markers. The collected behavioral data has also been used to train an AI system for tracking pigeon behaviors in the wild without markers. The facility’s 3D motion-tracking capability allows for a closer study of animal behavior within flocks or swarms, providing new insights into how individual animals contribute to group formation and cohesion.
Conclusion
The SMART-BARN lab offers a unique opportunity for researchers to study the movements and behaviors of bird flocks and insect swarms in a controlled environment. Using motion-capture cameras and artificial intelligence, the lab enables detailed tracking of individual animals and provides insights into collective behavior. While the lab has its limitations, it has already paved the way for future advancements in animal behavior research and the development of larger facilities. By studying animal behavior at this level of detail, researchers hope to gain a better understanding of group dynamics and the roles played by individual animals within these groups.
