Introduction
Observation of animal behavior is important to many fields of research in the life sciences. Its automation is crucial to advances in animal well-being and scientific research. In the EthoVision product made by Noldus, a Windows computer is attached to a camera which has a 2D top view of a homecare. The images are recorded and analyzed in real-time to generate statistics on what the animals are doing. Rodents are social animals. For their welfare, the trend is to house the animals together and in an enriched environment.

Where a human observer can discriminate between animals on the basis of body features, such as fur color, -texture, -markings, body proportions, or specific characteristics of ears, tail, e.g., modern observation systems cannot. Systems used for observation of the animals are not capable to reliably re-identify the animals during and after (partial) occlusions. Statistics can be gathered for the animals as a group but not for individual animals.

Assignment
The aim of this assignment is to create an algorithm that is capable to find and use specific features of the top view of a rodent to automatically and reliably discriminate between several animals in a social setting, especially during and after animal-occlusion.

Your background
We are looking for students who are interested in research in the area of computer vision and recognition. Knowledge of MatLab required.  

More information
If you are interested in this particular project, please contact Rob Ottenhoff or Wil van Dommelen. Background information: www.noldus.com.