Optomotor Apparatus

A low-cost, customizable, programmable optomotor apparatus

Vision is the dominant sense for many animals, and there is an enormous diversity in visual capabilities. Understanding the visual abilities of a given species can therefore be key for investigating its behaviour and evolution.

To assist in measuring visual capabilities—including acuity, motion detection, and contrast sensitivity—we have developed a customizable, programmable optomotor apparatus using 3D-printed and low-cost materials. It is our hope that the low cost and ease of construction of our apparatus will allow researchers and educators in a variety of settings to include optomotor assays in their research, or classroom activities and demonstrations.

A full parts list, 3D models, assembly instructions, and microcontroller code are provided under Creative Commons license at the GitHub repository (https://github.com/troscianko/optomotor), and are archived through Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/record/3840063#.Xyq8AEl7nOQ) and as supplementary material.

Construction guide, video guide, user forum, and future updates are provided here: http://www.empiricalimaging.com/optomotor/.

EM Caves, J Troscianko*, and LA Kelley*. 2020. A customizable, low-cost optomotor apparatus: a powerful tool for behaviourally measuring visual capability. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13449