Table 1.
Overview of automated and high throughput software and hardware for animal behavior analysis.
| Hardware/software | Utility | Software/ hardware | Programming language | Species* | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnTrax | Tracking software for color-tagged individuals of small species | Software | Matlab | Ooceraea biroi | Gal et al., 2020 |
| Automated Drosophila Olfactory Conditioning System | Automated software and hardware system to study olfactory behavior coupled with learning and memory assessment | Software and Hardware | Arduino and Labview | Drosophila melanogaster | Jiang et al., 2016 |
| BEEtag | Image tracking software to track labeled identified individual bees or anatomical markers | Software | Matlab | Apis mellifera | Crall et al., 2015 |
| Buritrack | Tracking software either in the presence or in the absence of visual targets in a Buridian paradigm setup | Software and Hardware | R | Different species | Colomb et al., 2012 |
| ClockLab | Analysis of circadian locomotor activity data collected using DAM system | Software | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Pfeiffenberger et al., 2010 |
| CTrax | Tracking software for automatically quantify individual and social behavior of fruit flies | Software | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Branson et al., 2009 |
| DAM | Drosophila Activity Monitor. System from Trikinetics for locomotion, sleep and circadian rhythms activity quantification | Hardware | None | Drosophila melanogaster | www.trikinetics.com |
| DART | Drosophila Arousal Tracking. Hardware and software that reports locomotor and positional activity data of individual flies in multiple chambers | Software and Hardware | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Faville et al., 2015 |
| DeepLabCut | Markerless pose estimation based on machine learning with deep neural networks that achieves excellent results with minimal training data to study behavior by tracking various body parts | Software | Python | Mus musculus and Drosophila melanogaster | Mathis et al., 2018 |
| DeepPoseKit | Machine learning software for deep estimation of pose location to analyze specific behavior parameters | Software | Python | Different species | Graving et al., 2019 |
| DIAS | Dynamic Image Analysis System. Tracking software to analyze locomotor behavior in the adult fruit fly as in other individuals | Software | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Slawson et al., 2009 |
| Drosophila Island | Algorithm that quantify locomotor and flight activity behavior from fruit flies on specific Island platforms | Software | Fiji and R | Drosophila melanogaster | Eidhof et al., 2017 |
| Ethoscopes | Machine learning software to track and profile behavior in real time while trigger stimulus to flies in a feedback-loop mode | Software | R | Drosophila melanogaster | Geissmann et al., 2017 |
| Expresso | Automated feeding hardware to measure individual meal-bouts with high temporal and volume resolution | Hardware | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Yapici et al., 2016 |
| FIM / FIMTrack | FTIR-based Imaging Method. Tracking hardware and software to study locomotion behavior based on internal reflection of infrared light (FTIR) operating at all wavelengths allowing in vivo detection of fluorescent proteins | Software and Hardware | C++ | Drosophila melanogaster | Risse et al., 2013 |
| FLIC | Fly Liquid-Food Interaction Counter. Automated hardware to detect and quantify physical contact with liquid food to study feeding behavior in fruit flies | Software and Hardware | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Ro et al., 2014 |
| Flyception | Retroreflective based tracking coupled with imaging brain activity on free walking fruit flies | Hardware | C++ | Drosophila melanogaster | Grover et al., 2020 |
| FlyGrAM | Fly Group Activity Monitor. Software for monitoring real-time group locomotion based on background subtraction | Software | Python | Drosophila melanogaster | Scaplen et al., 2019 |
| FlyMAD | Fly Mind-Altering Device. Infrared laser targeting hardware for accurately thermogenetic silencing or activation on freely walking flies | Hardware | None | Drosophila melanogaster | Bath et al., 2014 |
| FlyPAD | Fly Proboscis and Activity Detector. Detailed, automated and high-throughput quantification of feeding behavior based on capacitance data | Software and Hardware | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Itskov et al., 2014 |
| FlyPEZ | High-throughput hardware system to rapidly analyze individual fly behavior with tracking and controlled sensory or optogenetic stimulation | Hardware | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Williamson et al., 2018 |
| Flywalk | Automatic olfactory preference tracking hardware for screening individual flies | Hardware | Matlab | Drosophila melanogaster | Steck et al., 2012 |
| Idtrackerai | Individual tracking of all trajectories from small and large collectives with high identification accuracy | Software | Python | Different species | Romero-Ferrero et al., 2019 |
| Imaging system for zebrafish larvae behavior analyses | Three-camera imaging system hardware to image zebrafish larvae behavior in front of visual stimuli provided by specific slides in a high-throughput manner | Hardware | None | Danio rerio | Richendrfer and Créton, 2013 |
| JAABA | Machine learning-based system for automatically quantify different animal behavior parameters | Software | Matlab | Different species | Kabra et al., 2013 |
| Machine learning tracking software | Machine learning-based tracking software for individual trajectories inside a group | Software | None | Insects | Wario et al., 2017 |
| pySOLO | Sleep and locomotor activity software analyzer of multiple isolated flies | Software | Python | Drosophila melanogaster | Gilestro, 2012 |
| RFID | Radiofrequency identification based tracking hardware on individual ID infrared detection by antennas | Hardware | Matlab | Different species | Schneider et al., 2012a; Torquet et al., 2018; Reinert et al., 2019 |
| RING | Rapid Iterative Negative Geotaxis. Digital photography based hardware to measure negative geotaxis in individual or collective animal groups simultaneously | Hardware | Scion Image - Pascal | Drosophila melanogaster | Gargano et al., 2005 |
| The Tracked Program | Tracking of small movements at any location on a DAM set up to study sleep behavior and structure | Software | Java | Drosophila melanogaster | Donelson et al., 2012 |
| WormFarm | Integrated microfluidic hardware to quantify different behaviors such as survival from images and videos | Hardware | None | Caenorhabditis elegans | Xian et al., 2013 |
*
Species for which the hardware or software was initially designed. Nevertheless, most of them can be adapted to other species.