An Automated Wireless Seesaw System Enabling Spatial Separation of Action and Reward in Group-Housed Marmosets

Abstract

Cooperation in social species is shaped by ongoing social relationships, partner choice, and group interactions, demanding experimental systems that preserve the social context in which these behaviors unfold. Here we introduce the e-Seesaw, a wireless system for automated liquid reward delivery designed to support home-enclosure experiments on reward access distribution in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) with minimal human intervention. The apparatus combines a modular peristaltic pump with a Bluetooth-controlled trigger, allowing spatial separation between the site of action and the site of reward delivery while preserving group housing. We provide detailed design files, software, and assembly instructions to support reproduction and adaptation. In a proof-of-concept deployment across seven families, animals readily engaged with the device, producing a median of ~87 trigger activations per session. Engagement was concentrated early within sessions and remained largely stable across repeated deployments, including under increased action-reward separation. These results established the e-Seesaw as a flexible and reproducible platform for automated reward-delivery experiments in animals tested within their social groups, while reducing human involvement and avoiding fixed dyadic testing.