Experiment setup

The arena and zones of interest :

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Whatever the shape of the arena in which the animals evolve, Ethotrack adapts to your experiment. Simply draw, directly on the video, using standard drawing tools, the contours of the arena, as well as the different zones of interest. It is possible to create zones of simple shapes using the drawing tools, but also complex zones by combining several simple shapes. For each zone, you can configure the entry and exit criteria of the zone (according to the position of the center or the head of the animal, or according to a percentage of the body of the animal present in the zone). It is possible to create "movable" zones whose position may vary depending on the test (for example for an object recognition test) or "hidden" zones (for example if the arena contains a tunnel or an exercise wheel ).

To save time, you can record several tests simultaneously on the same video.. Ethotrack allows you to define secondary arenas and manage each animal independently.

Stages and trials:

An experiment can be organized in several stages, each stage comprising several trials.

Each stage has its own recording (start and duration) and analysis (analysis start and end conditions) parameters.

A stage is organized into trials to be carried out depending on several factors. The example below shows a stage made up of 10 trials: 5 days with 2 trials each time (one on a smooth bottom and one on a rough bottom).

The "Animals" block allows you to select the animals that participate in the stage and to plan a different start of recording for each animal.

Ethotrack can generate the tests automatically for each stage according to the trials and animals selected. If you add an animal during the experiment, the tests to be performed by this animal are automatically added. If an animal is excluded during the stage, all the tests that have not yet been saved are automatically deleted. Similarly, if you add trials, the corresponding tests are automatically created for each selected animal.

For each stage It is possible to specify the start date, as well as the time to respect between the different trials. Ethotrack can then automatically plan the tests to be performed.

The list of tests to be performed is displayed,

• either in the form of a monthly calendar allowing you to quickly view the next tests to be carried out or the tests that are late:

• or in the form of a daily list allowing quick access to the next tests to be carried out.

Behaviors :

A behavior designates an action of the animal which cannot be detected automatically by Ethotrack (for example: grooming or standing) but which can be recorded manually (by simply pressing a button) when viewing the video.

User defined fields :

You can define your own "user defined fields" to record additional information about animals or tests.. For example: the sex of the animal, the treatment administered to the animal or the number of days between the treatment and the recording of the test.

User fields can be used to filter or group tests in reports.

Thee analysis sequencer :

The sequencer module makes it easy to configure the start and end of the analysis, using a graphical interface: for example: start the analysis 20 seconds after the animal leaves the "center" zone .