OCTRON - a general purpose segmentation and tracking pipeline for behavioral experiments

Jacobsen, R. I.; van Eekelen, N. M.; Humphrey, L.; Renton, J.; van Rooij, E.; Rivera, J.; Arenas, O. M.; Lumpkin, E. A.; Maccuro, S.; Buresch, K. C.; Seuntjens, E.; Obenhaus, H. A.

doi:10.64898/2025.12.20.695663

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2025.12.20.695663

OCTRON - a general purpose segmentation and tracking pipeline for behavioral experiments

Jacobsen, R. I.·van Eekelen, N. M.·Humphrey, L.·Renton, J.·van Rooij, E.·Rivera, J.·Arenas, O. M.·Lumpkin, E. A.·Maccuro, S.·Buresch, K. C.·Seuntjens, E.·Obenhaus, H. A.

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Abstract

OCTRON is a pipeline for markerless segmentation and tracking of animals in behavioral experiments. By combining Segment Anything Models (SAM 2) for rapid annotation, YOLO11 models for training, and state-of-the-art multi-object trackers, OCTRON enables unsupervised segmentation and tracking of multiple animals with complex, deformable body plans. We validate its versatility across species - from transparent marine annelids to camouflaging cuttlefish - demonstrating robust, general-purpose applicability for behavioral analysis.

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Jacobsen, R. I., van Eekelen, N. M., Humphrey, L., Renton, J., van Rooij, E., Rivera, J., Arenas, O. M., Lumpkin, E. A., Maccuro, S., Buresch, K. C., Seuntjens, E., Obenhaus, H. A.. 2025-12-23. OCTRON - a general purpose segmentation and tracking pipeline for behavioral experiments. https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.20.695663

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