C3: Behavior Automation

项目摘要/摘要：核心3，行为自动化 这个U19项目的主要目标是阐明工作记忆和 决策。因此，该应用程序中的每个研究项目都涉及经过训练的啮齿动物 认知要求高的任务，需要动物积累证据来做出决定。所有这些都是 动物在行为自动化核心的中央设施中接受培训，该中心提供共享虚拟现实(VR) 和非VR行为钻机，在整个研究项目中标准化行为。这个核心的第一个目标是 为这一标准化的行为培训设施提供最先进的效率和自动化。作为对…的需求 我们的服务增加了，我们将继续扩大其运力。我们已经开发了一种微型VR设备，它将 允许我们将我们空间中的钻井平台数量增加一倍。随着训练设施的扩大， 每个技术人员的处理能力也将增加，这要求我们开发新的自动化工具来确保 动物的健康和数据的质量。该核心将开发新工具并将其集成到现有的 高吞吐量工作流，以减少人为错误并改进技术人员干预。我们也会改进 我们的系统用于支持和维护试验台；管理技术人员的招聘、培训和日程安排，以 满足需求；监督技术人员的工作流程、动物管理和设施法规合规性。 核心的第二个目标是设计一种能够满足不同实验需求的模块化行为装置。 而不是重新设计钻井平台以适应新的实验，这将设置一个实质性的障碍 为了创新，我们计划开发一个模块化的平台，为不同的实验提供共享框架 需要。我们将设计和开发新模块，将其融入现有工作流或创建新的 在所有研究项目和其他资源核心之间存储和共享生成的数据的工作流。 最后，第三个目标是为神经科学界提供行为资源。分享我们的 方法与更广泛的科学界一起，我们正在开发一个网站，其中包含全面和 易于导航的文档。该网站将提供资源，如详细说明如何 搭建实验台，维护例行程序，全面描述设施工作流程，如何设置 行为数据库，并将其与钻机和动物工作流程集成。通过提供此信息，我们 希望为这些方法的更广泛标准化提供便利。这一资源将使世界各地的研究人员 世界各国将在自己的实验室中为受控良好、认知要求高的任务引入自动化培训。 总而言之，我们的共享行为训练设施将支持所有研究的实验部分 该U19计划内的项目。更广泛地说，我们希望我们自动化和自动化的开创性方法 管理动物训练，当与更广泛的社区分享时，将提高效率、严格性和 神经科学领域行为研究的重复性。

Project Summary/Abstract: Core 3, Behavior Automation The main goal of this U19 project is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying working memory and decision-making. As a consequence, each research project in this application involves rodents trained on cognitively demanding tasks that require the animals to accumulate evidence to make decisions. All these animals are trained in the Behavior Automation Core’s central facility, which provides shared virtual-reality (VR) and non-VR behavioral rigs, standardizing behavior across the research projects. The first aim of this core is to provide this standardized behavioral training facility with cutting-edge efficiency and automation. As demand for our services increases, we will continue to expand its capacity. We have developed a miniature VR rig that will allow us to double the number of rigs in our space. As the training facility expands, the number of animals that each technician handles will increase as well, requiring us to develop new automation tools to ensure the health of the animals and the quality of the data. This core will develop and integrate new tools into the existing high-throughput workflow to reduce human error and improve technician interventions. We will also improve our systems to support and maintain experimental rigs; manage technician hiring, training, and scheduling to meet demand; and oversee technicians’ workflow, animal management, and facility regulatory compliance. The core’s second aim is to design a modular behavioral rig that meets diverse experimental needs. Rather than redesigning the rigs to accommodate new experiments, which would impose a substantial barrier to innovation, we plan to develop a modular rig that will provide a shared framework for diverse experimental needs. We will design and develop new modules, fitting them into the existing workflows or creating new workflows to store and share the generated data across all the research projects and other resource cores. Finally, the third aim is to provide behavioral resources for the neuroscience community. To share our methods with the broader scientific community, we are developing a website that contains comprehensive and easy-to-navigate documentation. This website will provide resources such as a detailed explanation of how to build experimental rigs, maintenance routines, a comprehensive description of facility workflow, how to set up the behavioral database and integrate it with the rigs, and animal workflows. By providing this information, we hope to facilitate wider standardization of these methods. This resource will enable researchers around the world to introduce automated training for well-controlled, cognitively demanding tasks in their own laboratories. In summary, our shared behavioral training facility will support the experimental components of all the research projects within this U19 program. More generally, we expect that our pioneering methods for automating and managing animal training, when shared with the broader community, will improve efficiency, rigor, and reproducibility in behavioral research across the field of neuroscience.