Three-Dimensional Neurophenotyping of Adult Zebrafish Behavior

The use of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) in neurobehavioral research is rapidly expanding. The present large-scale study applied the newest video-tracking and data-mining technologies to further examine zebrafish anxiety-like phenotypes. Here, we generated temporal and spatial three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of zebrafish locomotion, globally assessed behavioral profiles evoked by several anxiogenic and anxiolytic manipulations, mapped individual endpoints to 3D reconstructions, and performed cluster analysis to reconfirm behavioral correlates of high- and low-anxiety states. The application of 3D swim path reconstructions consolidates behavioral data (while increasing data density) and provides a novel way to examine and represent zebrafish behavior. It also enables rapid optimization of video tracking settings to improve quantification of automated parameters, and suggests that spatiotemporal organization of zebrafish swimming activity can be affected by various experimental manipulations in a manner predicted by their anxiolytic or anxiogenic nature. Our approach markedly enhances the power of zebrafish behavioral analyses, providing innovative framework for high-throughput 3D phenotyping of adult zebrafish behavior

Robot navigation: implications from search strategies in exploring crayfish

SUMMARY Biomimetic applications play an important role in informing the field of robotics. One aspect is navigation – a skill automobile robots require to perform useful tasks. A sub-area of this is search strategies, e.g. for search and rescue, demining, exploring surfaces of other planets or as a default strategy when other navigation mechanisms fail. Despite that, only a few approaches have been made to transfer biological knowledge of search mechanisms on surfaces along the ground into biomimetic applications. To provide insight for robot navigation strategies, this study describes the paths a crayfish used to explore terrain. We tracked movement when different sets of sensory input were available. We then tested this algorithm with a computer model crayfish and concluded that the movement ofC. destructorhas a specialised walking strategy that could provide a suitable baseline algorithm for autonomous mobile robots during navigation.46

Nonlinear Robotics in Surgery

International audienc