Avirtual reality experience that teaches students how to handle cows, designed by a University of Adelaide academic and local tech company Think Digital, has launched to the United States at the 97th Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis.
The tool, called CattleVR, was on show for the more than 70,000 agriculture-focussed educators and students at the event.
Dr Mandi Carr, a Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Animal and Veterinary Science, said she developed CattleVR to address the high number of students with limited large-animal experience entering the University’s animal-based degrees.
“We were finding students were fearful of cattle, leading them to behave unsafely around them in the yards,” said Dr Carr, who demonstrated the tech for attendees at the Indianapolis event.
“Due to the size of the animals, and the potential for injury to the students and the stress to the cattle when they’re handled incorrectly, I knew there was an opportunity to improve training.”
Previously, students learned about animal flight zones – the space around an animal that, if entered, will cause it to move away – through slide presentations and 2D videos, or they were taught on the job.
CattleVR provides a safer learning experience – and demonstrates the practical applications of virtual reality beyond gaming.
“This immersive virtual reality tool allows students to put on a headset and learn first-hand about the size of the animals, the flight zones, and how to move them safely through the yards,” Think Digital chief executive Kat Bidstrup said.
“CattleVR is a fantastic complementary tool for educators that bridges the knowledge gap for new students, and, most importantly, we know for sure that no student has been injured being kicked by a virtual cow.”
Dr Carr’s insight and experience was crucial to ensure CattleVR was accurate and appropriate for use in classrooms.
She said the result gives students the insights they need to feel more comfortable handling large animals.
“Kat and her team developed a large amount of responsiveness within the experience so that students get the full experience of the size, and the different responses animals have, depending on where to stand and how you move,” Dr Carr said.
More than 1000 University of Adelaide students have been through the CattleVR training program.
CattleVR is accessible on all major VR platforms as an annual subscription for universities, vocational educators and other organisations focused on agriculture and animal sciences.
