Humans are highly excited by the virtual world of gaming and augmented reality, but now scientists have experimented with using these technologies of the new era on small animals, to test the reactions of tiny flying fruit flies and even fiddler crabs.
In an effort to understand the aerodynamic powers of flying insects and other poorly understood animal behaviors, the study led by Flinders University is yielding new insights into how invertebrates respond, interact, and navigate in “worlds” created by advanced entertainment technology.
Published in the journal Methods of Ecology and Evolution, the new gaming software was developed by specialists at Flinders University, in collaboration with Professor Karin Nordström, co-author, who directs the Hoverfly Motion Vision Lab at Flinders University, and with specialists from Western Australia and Germany.
The new study aims to expand ongoing research into new technologies, including aviation and other precision devices, and provides researchers worldwide with access to the software platform specially designed for this purpose.
The new investigation involved biologists, neuroscientists, and software experts, including researchers from Flinders University, Yuri Ogawa, Richard Leibbrandt and Raymond Aoukar, as well as Jake Manger and colleagues from the University of Western Australia.
“We have developed computer programs that create a virtual reality experience for the animals to move,” says Ogawa, a neuroscience researcher at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute.
“Using machine learning algorithms and computer vision, we can observe the animals and understand what they are doing, whether it is a fly trying to turn left in flight, or a fiddler crab that avoids a virtual bird that flies over its head,” he adds.
“The software then adapts the visual scene to match the movements carried out by the animal,” explains.
The study’s co-author, Richard Leibbrandt, a professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Flinders University, states that the machine learning technologies used in the experiments are already revolutionizing sectors such as agriculture, including automatic crop and livestock monitoring, and the development of agricultural robots.
“Virtual reality and augmented reality are also fundamental in sectors ranging from healthcare to architecture and the transportation industry,” says Leibbrandt.
This new virtual world for invertebrates is beginning to reveal new ways of studying animal behavior with more detail than ever before,” adds Aoukar, who holds a computer science degree from Flinders University.
“Over the last two decades, there have been rapid advances in algorithms and computing technology, such as virtual reality, gaming, artificial intelligence, and high-speed computing using specialized graphics hardware,” says Aoukar.
“These technologies are now mature enough and accessible to run on consumer computer equipment, which opens up the possibility of studying animal behavior in a systematically controlled environment, yet still more natural than a typical laboratory experiment,” he adds.
As part of the behavioral observations and quantification, the new technique enables the identification of the visual factors that trigger the behavior.
The Professor Nordström states that other research groups are already interested in using the new platform, which is described and can be downloaded from the new journal article.
“This was truly a team effort in which all authors of the article were instrumental in making VR work. We look forward to using VR to investigate the mechanisms underlying decision making in insects,” concludes Professor Nordström.
