Meeting Abstract
Observations of animal behavior can be critical for many ethological questions, such as sensory responses to stimuli, locomotor activity, and eating habits. An automated system to monitor animal behaviors is a valuable tool in the field of ethology, but the cost can be prohibitive for many researchers, particularly those from low income countries. We have developed an affordable, customizable, and easy-to-use video monitoring device prototype, the PiSpy. The PiSpy platform is based on a Raspberry Pi computer and 8 megapixel Pi Camera and is designed to be able to record and monitor behaviors at any time in both light and dark conditions. To run this fully automated recording system, we developed a graphical user interface (GUI) to control each aspect of recording, such as frequency, duration, lighting control, etc. As a versatile recording device, PiSpy is able to adapt to the type of species it is monitoring, with the lights, video capture and frequency all adjustable, allowing research questions from many fields to be answered through it. Additionally, PiSpy is affordable at under $100, with many of the parts being home-made or easily attainable. We have piloted PiSpy in a range of studies such as ant tracking, beehive entrance monitoring, rat feeding behavior and locomotor activity in ground squirrels. We hope that our open-source PiSpy video recording platform, with its simplicity, adaptability and affordability, will contribute to many research advances within the biological sciences and beyond.
