A research team in the Netherlands has 3D printed a robotic zebra finch in order to see which factors are important when baby finches learn to sing.
The Seeing Voices research consortium consists of researchers from Leiden University, VU Amsterdam and Freie Universität Berlin, and they have spent the last 4 years working on the robotic bird.
Multimodal Communication
The researchers are studying multimodal communication, where multiple sensory modalities are used to convey information. Multimodal communication is common in nature. From plants using color and fragrance to attract pollinators to humans gesturing while talking, multimodal displays have evolved to increase signal salience, aid species recognition, and improve cognitive processing of the intended receivers. However, the mechanisms underlying the cognitive benefits of multimodal signals are not yet fully understood, in part due to the challenges in controlling multiple physical modalities in experiments.
Human speech and bird song are learned communication systems that involve primarily the auditory sensory and vocal motor modalities. However, the production of speech and song is usually accompanied by concurrent visual cues, highlighting the importance of multimodal integration of visual and auditory cues in speech processing. Robotic models allow researchers to control and mimic animal behaviors in realistic 3D settings, allowing for the study of artificial stimulus combinations and the assessment of how receivers of multimodal signals process different components.
RoboFinch
While robotic models have already demonstrated the influence of multimodal signals and cues on receivers in non-additive ways, improved approaches are needed to understand the mechanisms and functioning involved with multimodal signaling, particularly in early sensory and lifetime learning and memory formation.
Thus, the RoboFinch was created, to see how the movement of the real life bird, when combined with the bird’s colors, affects how baby finches learn to sing. The researchers used high-speed cameras to film and then precisely measured the beak movements of zebra finches to make an exact copy, and then put the robot among the baby finches.
“Like children, young zebra finches start by babbling. They hear other birds singing, memorize this and start practicing,” says Katharina Riebel, a researcher at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL).
“To investigate when and how birds learn, researchers have mostly played birdsong through loudspeakers. This was sometimes in combination with a screen, but didn’t get any further than 2D. However, singing involves much more, such as beak and throat movements and posture. This might be why young birds learn less well from a loudspeaker than from another bird.”
Video
When placed with the RoboFinch, the young birds showed interest in and listened to the robotic bird when it started moving and playing birdsong, demonstrating the potential for studying the importance of visual movements in vocal learning.
The researchers plan to continue exploring the components of birdsong and to make the RoboFinch interactive for future experiments.
You can read the full paper in Methods in Ecology and Evolution journal, at this link.
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