Communications of the ACM
Team Develops a Software Able to Identify and Track an Specific Individual Within a Group
A team from Spain's Cajal Institute has developed algorithms that enable the identification of each animal in a group.
Credit: Alfonso Prez-Escudero
Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) say they have taken a new approach to monitoring animals that move in groups, with hopes of learning their rules of interaction.
A team from the Cajal Institute developed algorithms that enable the identification of each animal in a group, and then developed software called the idTracker. The software identification system first performs a search of the species when they are separated and can be differentiated, then identifies and recognizes its image in every frame of the video. The image of the individual, with its unique features, serves as the particular "footprint" of each animal, and even if animals hide and temporarily disappear, the program recognizes them when they reenter the scene.
"From now on, we will be able to quantitatively determine the rules of animal behavior in groups taking into account the individuality of each animal," says Gonzalo G. de Polavieja, who led the study. He says the software can be used with a variety of different species, but could eventually be used to recognize people in large crowds or even vehicles or parts in a factory.
From Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
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