Moscow Times reports that farmers in Russia are placing Virtual Reality (VR) headsets on cows in order to improve their mood and increase milk production. This interesting collaboration was formed between the farmers, veterinarians, and VR developers to introduce the experience in to the agriculture industry.
Although VR is mainly known for its usage in gaming, it has been a useful approach in the medical and educational field as well. In this case, it seems that VR aren’t exclusive to just humans anymore.
The experiment itself consisted of two phases; the first phase was to examine mood improvements of the herd and determining if anxiety levels are reduced during the simulation, while the second phase saw experts evaluating milk production from the VR-wearing cows.
According to The Moscow Times, the VR headsets are displaying “a virtual summer field” to the cows. It is said that a calming environment could increase milk production, in which farmers have been playing classical music prior to this.
Currently, it is reported that developers might be looking into expanding the experiment if it continues to produce positive results. As far as the VR industry is concerned, this “VR cow” experiment is one of the most unique use of virtual reality so far.
(Source: The Moscow Times via Techspot)
