Smart cage system and method for housing and assaying multiple vertebrate animals

A smart cage for housing and assaying method for multiple vertebrate animals comprising:

• housing, feeding, and hydrating two or more vertebrate animals within at least one inner housing assembly, the inner housing assembly disposed at least partly within at least one outer housing assembly, the housing assemblies each having a top portion, a bottom portion, and at least one side portion;
• monitoring and recording data with at least one controller generated by at least one or more sensor from a group of:
• optical sensors, motion sensors, pressure sensors, weight sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, proximity sensors, chemical sensors, volume sensors, level sensors, audio sensors, odor sensors, heartbeat sensors, brainwave sensors, body mass sensors, color sensors, rotary sensors, light sensors, oscillation sensors, balance sensors, reflex or reaction sensors, waterflow sensors, force meter sensors, load sensors, electrical sensors, and bite strength sensors, the sensors monitoring at least one or more of the environment, a device within one or more of the housing assemblies, and at least one of the two or more vertebrate animals within the inner housing assembly;
• tracking individuals of the two or more vertebrate animals by way of a multi object tracking software system operationally coupled to at least one optical sensor by the at least one controller, by way of at least one or more from a group of:
• detecting objects, reidentifying objects, generating trajectories, and aggregating features, the multi object tracking software further using at least one or more from a group of:
• appearance models, motion models, interaction models, exclusion models, and occlusion handling models;
• synchronizing tracking position of each vertebrate animal with the at least one or more sensors at least one or more of before, in real time, and after sensing an action, wherein data being captured by each at least one or more sensors is being synchronized by way of at least one time measuring device;
• and
• assigning and storing data collected for each of the two or more vertebrate animals distinctly for that individual vertebrate animal.

A smart cage system for housing and assaying multiple vertebrate animals comprising:

• a plurality of inner housing assemblies and outer housing assemblies, the housing assemblies each having a top portion, a bottom portion, and at least one side portion, each inner housing assembly adapted to be at least partly disposed within and removable from the respective outer housing assembly, the housing assemblies further disposed within at least one rack assembly adapted to hold the plurality of at least one housing assemblies wherein housing assemblies may be operationally contained at least one or more of vertically and horizontally from each other, and wherein the housing assemblies may be at least partially removed from the rack independently from other housing assemblies;
• the plurality of smart cages including at least one controller adapted to monitor and record data from at least one or more sensors from a group of:
• optical sensors, motion sensors, pressure sensors, weight sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, proximity sensors, chemical sensors, volume sensors, level sensors, audio sensors, odor sensors, heartbeat sensors, brainwave sensors, body mass sensors, color sensors, rotary sensors, light sensors, oscillation sensors, balance sensors, reflex or reaction sensors, waterflow sensors, force meter sensors, load sensors, electrical sensors, and bite strength sensors, the sensors adapted to monitor at least one or more of the environment, a device within one or more of the housing assemblies, and at least one vertebrate animal within the inner housing assembly, wherein each smart cage may have unique configurations of at least one or more sensors;
• the at least one or more sensors operationally synchronized at least one or more of before, in real time, and after sensing an action, wherein data captured by each at least one or more sensors can be synchronized by way of at least one time measuring device;
• a multi object tracking software system operationally coupled to at least one optical sensor by the at least one controller, the multi object tracking software adapted to track individuals of the multiple vertebrate animals by way of at least one or more from a group of:
• object detection, object reidentification, generating trajectories, and aggregating features, the multi object tracking software further adapted to use at least one or more from a group of:
• appearance models, motion models, interaction models, exclusion models, and occlusion handling, the tracking of individual vertebrate animals adapted to be time synchronized;
• and
• at least the outer housing assembly including at least one or more from a group of ports, slots, shelves, pockets, hooks, fasteners, and sleeves each adapted to retain at least one sensor.