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Automated alternatives exist, but cost and programming expertise limit adoption beyond the laboratories that build them. Here we describe PixelPaws, an open-source platform combining a near-infrared imaging enclosure built from consumer parts for under $300, multi-camera acquisition software, a bundled pose-estimation network, and eight classifiers in a graphical user interface. We evaluated the platform across standard assays of pain, itch, and opioid withdrawal. Licking, scratching, and jumping classifiers were validated against trained human observers by leave-one-session-out evaluation. In the formalin assay, classifier-scored licking followed the expected biphasic time course and was reduced dose-dependently by oxycodone, with a phase 2 potency estimate comparable to blinded manual scoring. Chloroquine roughly tripled scratching, and naloxone precipitated a burst of jumping in oxycodone-treated mice. From the same recordings we derived a set of paw contour metrics. Contour intensity fell after formalin and tracked the oxycodone dose series, and contour area shifted toward symmetry after oxycodone in nerve-injured mice. Behavioral sequencing revealed distinct changes in the transitions between behaviors after naloxone-precipitated withdrawal and formalin administration. Oxycodone suppressed formalin-evoked licking without restoring behavioral sequencing toward the vehicle state. These data demonstrate that an integrated, low-cost, open-source platform can make automated behavioral phenotyping accessible without requiring users to build a custom computational pipeline.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.09.19.752787","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T06:45:13Z","timestamp":1790318713000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["PixelPaws: a low-cost, open-source integrated platform for automated scoring of mouse behaviors"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3191-7749","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Richard A.","family":"Slivicki","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-7003-6513","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hanyun","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"},{"name":"Neuroscience Graduate Program, Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juliet M.","family":"Mwirigi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kayla","family":"Kucz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hunter","family":"Hua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7522-8841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meaghan C.","family":"Creed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"},{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5428-4251","authenticated-orcid":false,"suffix":"IV","given":"Robert W.","family":"Gereau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Washington University Pain Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"},{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"},{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026092919451298000_2026.09.19.752787v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3292500.3330701"},{"key":"2026092919451298000_2026.09.19.752787v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1541-0420.2005.00440.x"},{"key":"2026092919451298000_2026.09.19.752787v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1111\/anzs.12176","article-title":"Some solutions to the multivariate Behrens-Fisher problem for dissimilarity-based analyses","volume":"59","year":"2017","journal-title":"Aust N Z J Stat"},{"key":"2026092919451298000_2026.09.19.752787v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.crmeth.2025.101145"},{"key":"2026092919451298000_2026.09.19.752787v1.5","unstructured":"BioSyft. 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