A State-of-the-Art Laboratory for Studying Collective Animal Behavior
Introduction
Researchers from the Center of Excellence for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior (CASCB) and the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior have converted a former barn into a state-of-the-art laboratory for complex behavior analysis. This innovative facility provides scientists with the means to study the intricate behavior of groups of animals, addressing the limitations of traditional laboratory settings or uncontrolled conditions in nature.
The Need for a New Approach
In the field of behavioral research, studying animals in controlled conditions often involves simplified and small laboratory settings, which may not accurately reflect their natural behavior. On the other hand, observing animals in nature can present numerous uncontrollable variables. This has limited our understanding of collective behavior, which encompasses the movements and interactions between animals that drive their complex social lives. To overcome these limitations, researchers require a spacious environment and cutting-edge technology.
The Birth of the SMART-BARN
In Möggingen, near Konstanz, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior have transformed an 18th-century barn into a groundbreaking laboratory: the SMART-BARN. This scalable multimodal arena for real-time monitoring of animal behavior in large numbers has revolutionized the study of complex behavioral traits in animals like insects, birds, and mammals.
SMART-BARN, short for “Scalable multimodal arena for real-time monitoring of animal behavior in large numbers,” was developed by a highly interdisciplinary team of biologists, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists led by Hemal Naik, Máté Nagy, Iain Couzin, and their colleagues. This collaborative effort has resulted in a tool that enables scientists to precisely track the 3D position, posture, and field of view of animals, offering new insights into their behavior.
The SMART-BARN’s modular design allows researchers to tailor their experiments to different species and conduct a wide range of behavioral studies. This flexibility has opened new doors for exploring the behavioral intricacies of animals in ways that would have been impossible with traditional methods.
The Advantages of Scaling Up
One of the key advantages of the SMART-BARN is its ability to scale up behavioral experiments in terms of experimental volume and measured behavioral traits. This means that animals have more space to exhibit a wider repertoire of behavior, which was previously confined to smaller settings.
The facility can accommodate hundreds of animals simultaneously, and it has even been scaled up to handle thousands of animals. For example, at the Imaging Hangar in the University of Konstanz, researchers successfully tracked 10,000 locust swarms using the SMART-BARN technology. This unprecedented level of measurement and observation has allowed scientists to explore behavioral patterns and interactions on an unprecedented scale.
Use Cases and Research Collaborations
Since its development, the SMART-BARN has been widely used in various experimental contexts with a diverse range of subjects, including pigeons, starlings, moths, bats, and even humans. This tool has facilitated interdisciplinary collaborations, introducing new perspectives and approaches in the study of behavior.
For instance, the ability to track the 3D gaze and posture of birds in groups has provided valuable insights into the role of visual attention in decision-making. Researchers have also utilized computer vision and artificial intelligence to develop novel algorithms for tracking animals without using markers. These advances have led to the creation of larger tracking systems, such as the one at the University of Konstanz Imaging Hangar, which can monitor swarms of robots or thousands of insects simultaneously.
The scope of applications for the SMART-BARN is virtually limitless, limited only by the researchers’ ability to generate ideas for experimentation. The facility serves as a collaborative space, inviting researchers from around the world to contribute to the exploration of behavioral issues and expand our understanding of collective animal behavior.
Conclusion
The creation of the SMART-BARN has revolutionized the study of collective animal behavior. This state-of-the-art laboratory provides researchers with the spatial capacity and advanced technology necessary to gain deep insights into the complex social lives of animals. With scalable experimentation capabilities, the SMART-BARN opens doors to new discoveries in behavior analysis and facilitates interdisciplinary collaborations among scientists from various domains.
Summary
Researchers from the Center of Excellence for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior and the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior have seized the opportunity to convert an old barn into a state-of-the-art laboratory known as the SMART-BARN. This facility allows scientists to study complex behaviors in animals by precisely tracking their movements, postures, and field of view. The SMART-BARN has proven invaluable in the study of collective behavior, providing researchers with the space and technology needed to revolutionize existing methodologies.
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Researchers from the Center of Excellence for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior (CASCB) and the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior have converted a former barn into a state-of-the-art laboratory for complex behavior analysis. In it they can now study the intricate behavior of groups of animals. The barn also served as the prototype for the largest swarm behavior laboratory at the University of Konstanz: the Imaging Hangar.
A major limitation in behavioral research is that scientists can study animals in highly controlled, though often unrealistically simplified and small, laboratory settings, or in largely uncontrolled conditions in nature. This has limited our ability to study many facets of behaviour, including collective behaviour: the movements and interactions between animals that underlie their complex social lives. What is needed to address this? First, a place with a lot of space. Second, state-of-the-art technology.
Both are available in an 18th-century barn at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Möggingen, near Konstanz, and now in the Imaging Hangar, a gym-sized room at the University of Konstanz. Both laboratories are used to closely examine the group behavior of animals. To do this in a multidimensional way, researchers from the Center of Excellence for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior have developed a tool called SMART-BARN.
SMART-BARN is an acronym for Scalable multimodal arena for real-time monitoring of animal behavior in large numbers. “It is a new tool that makes it possible to study complex behavioral traits of an individual or interactions between groups of animals such as insects, birds or mammals,” says Hemal Naik. Together with Máté Nagy, the co-chair of the group, Iain Couzin, and his colleagues developed SMART-BARN. The team was very interdisciplinary: it was developed together by biologists, physicists, engineers and computer scientists.
Máté Nagy explains the tool in more detail: “We use high-performance measurement techniques, such as optical and acoustic tracking, with which we can study the exact 3D position and posture of the animals and calculate their field of view.” Users of the new facility will have the flexibility to perform different experimental paradigms taking advantage of the modular nature of the system.
Why scale matters
“SMART-BARN is designed to outscale typical indoor behavioral experiments in terms of experimental volume and measured behavioral traits and group sizes,” says computer scientist Hemal Naik, adding: “This means users can measure a repertoire of behavior never seen before because animals have more space.” The facility can, depending on the size of the animals, house hundreds of animals simultaneously and expand the possibility of conducting experiments with new species that are not normally studied indoors. “In fact, we’ve now scaled this up to work with thousands of animals,” adds Couzin. “We recently conducted a study at the Imaging Hangar where we tracked 10,000 locust swarms. This would have been impossible without our SMART-BARN technology.”
How SMART-BARN can be used
Until now, SMART-BARN has been used in different experimental use cases with subjects as diverse as pigeons, starlings, moths, bats and humans. Naik is delighted because: “The installation is shaping important new interdisciplinary collaborations.” He continues: “For example, SMART-BARN offers the ability to track 3D gaze and posture of birds in a group of ten or more while maintaining their identity. Researchers are using this technique to explore the role of gaze in decision-making.” Computer scientists use the same technique to design novel algorithms based on computer vision and AI that facilitate 3D tracking of animals without placing any markers on them. “Our method has resulted in an even larger system at the University of Konstanz Imaging Hangar for tracking swarms of robots or thousands of insects,” says Iain Couzin.
Máté Nagy says: “Simply put, the scope of its applications is only limited by our ability to generate ideas for experimentation.” The team envisions the facility as a collaborative space where researchers from around the world can contribute to the exploration of behavioral issues. Therefore, the team invites researchers from all over the world to connect with them and plan experiments.
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