System for measuring movement response of small animals to changes in their orientation

The article introduces a novel system for measuring locomotive response of small animals (specifically amphibians and reptiles) to change in their body orientation based on a camera system located on mechanical platform powered by a set of three actuators. The camera system consists of three cameras providing a record three anatomical angles of body segment movements in space. A gyro accelerometer system allowing for measuring angles of the platform orientation in space is also a part of the mechanical platform, together with a computer providing for a precise measuring of body segment angles in anatomical as well as the earth's coordinate systems. We tested this novel method by measuring head rotation of a small reptile via monitoring reflective markers on the animal's body. A part of the work's results is thus a presentation of a method for monitoring animal's head compensatory movements. The assumption for the future is expanding the use of the system for more complex 3D movements, and adding the possibility to measure not exclusively just momentary values, but also angular velocity and segment acceleration for veterinary and medical use.