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Validation using Bonsai for video tracking

A project log for Rodent Arena Tracker (RAT)

A low-cost system to track and report mouse activity while they are contained in simple arenas.

lex-kravitzLex Kravitz 04/12/2019 at 23:000 Comments

We validated RAT's video tracking ability with an amazing piece of software called Bonsai.  Bonsai is a visual programming language that can do many things, including fast video manipulations and object tracking.  If you haven't seen Bonsai yet you should check it out!

Our setup recorded the mouse with both a webcam (streaming into Bonsai) and the RAT:

We exported the X and Y position of the mouse from both systems and looked at how the data lined up (spoiler: incredibly well).  Shown below are correlations of X and Y position from the two systems, plus 3 minutes of X and Y tracking data.  

Conclusion?  The RAT is good for mice!  

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