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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Automated Visual Cognitive Tasks for Recording Neural Activity Using a Floor Projection Maze
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Gemvid, an open source, modular, automated activity recording system for rats using digital video.

Jean-Etienne Poirrier1, Laurent Poirrier, Pierre Leprince

  • 1Cyclotron Research Center, University of Liege, Allee du 6 Aout, 8 (B30), 4000 Liege, Belgium. jepoirrier@ulg.ac.be

Journal of Circadian Rhythms
|August 29, 2006
PubMed
Summary

We developed a low-cost, open-source video system to track rodent movement, offering a sensitive and user-friendly alternative for behavioral analysis in research labs.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Science
  • Animal Research

Background:

  • Locomotor activity measurement is crucial for understanding behavior and brain function.
  • Existing methods for measuring animal movement are often flawed or prohibitively expensive.
  • A need exists for accessible, accurate, and non-invasive activity monitoring systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce a novel, open-source, low-cost system for quantifying rodent locomotor activity.
  • To provide a user-friendly and highly sensitive tool for behavioral analysis.
  • To enable automated, marker-free movement tracking in rodent research.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizes a commercially available CCTV camera and custom motion detection software on a GNU/Linux system.
  • Quantifies movement by analyzing differences in object area between consecutive video frames.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Automated Visual Cognitive Tasks for Recording Neural Activity Using a Floor Projection Maze
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Published on: February 20, 2014

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A Novel Single Animal Motor Function Tracking System Using Simple, Readily Available Software

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  • Designed with modular software for high-throughput data acquisition and analysis.

    • Main Results:

    • Demonstrated system sensitivity, reproducibility, and stability through controlled experiments.
    • Validated against an Actiwatch device, showing comparable performance.
    • Successfully monitored rat circadian rhythms under constant dark conditions, confirming validity.

    Conclusions:

    • The described system automatically quantifies rodent movement using video frame differences, eliminating the need for markers.
    • Enables long-term monitoring of rodents within their natural environment.
    • Offers a cost-effective, open-source solution to streamline data acquisition and analysis in research laboratories.