Meeting Abstract
Virtual reality is widely-used tool for exploring perception and decision-making in animals such as cockroaches, mice, fruit flies, bees, moths, and hummingbirds. By placing animals in a closed-loop environment, researchers can manipulate feedback (by temporally offsetting the response from a behavior, for example) such that requisites for locomotion or perception are revealed. Here, we demonstrate a new virtual reality environment, which we are developing to explore how flying snakes (Chrysopelea) visually perceive the environment during locomotion. The virtual arena consists of a 3-ft cube lined with PVC fabric, upon which images are back-projected (Epson VS350 XGA projectors). The system tracks the snake’s head and body position using infrared (IR) reflective markers, commercial gesture sensors (Leap Motion), and custom computer vision scripts. The virtual world imagery, created using Unity software, is updated continuously using the tracked the head positions. To observe the snake’s undulatory movement without translation, we designed air table that provides a zero friction surface. This new closed-loop virtual reality system will enable us to gain insight into how snakes use vision to move through their environment, and to react to specific visual features (such as looming and retreating objects). Supported by NSF 1351322 and 1402558.
