A Farm Through your Goggle

Imagine you can see your 50 hectares of land on your office table with real data on a screen that will cool right? Well its get better if you can see that same farm in 3D observing real data of slopes, length, breadth and height, without a screen wouldn’t that be wonder? The application of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality has made this a possibility.

What Is Virtual Reality (VR)?

Virtual Reality, or VR, is a simulated and immersive experience projected by a device into the user’s sight. All you need is a headset projecting you into a simulation via a viewfinder. That’s exactly what VR promises, and much more.

Today’s VR is the modern version of that stereoscopic sightseeing effect: It requires a set of lenses inside a viewport on a headset, and a mounted device where the experience is stored or computed. From pure observation to complete immersion, the range of VR capabilities varies depending on the device and type of headset used. Using a remote control in sync with the mounted headset allows the user to interact with 3D objects in space, within the experience—either for VR games or virtual interfaces and apps.

What Is Augmented Reality (AR)?

Just as the name suggests, Augmented Reality, or AR, adds to our perception of the world by overlapping computer generated graphics, images, or a set of interactive data.

Virtual Reality Len

As of today, AR only requires a smartphone with a camera and an AR app. Two key elements that make it work are the camera capacity to capture the environment around you as you move and the software that calculates and projects some computer-generated visuals or content. “Now, technology has caught up with our ambition. AR lets us redefine the experience for furniture retail once more, in our restless quest to create a better everyday life for everyone, everywhere,” says Michael Valdsgaard, Leader of Digital Transformation at Inter IKEA Systems.

What about Mixed Reality (MR)?

Mixed reality is a hybrid of VR and AR and aims to offer the best of both worlds. For instance, while it uses a headset just like VR, seeing through a translucent viewport or glass, it also projects visuals on top of our environment.

What makes MR stand out is its highly interactive aspect, and the realistic rendering of the projection it adds to our surroundings. Instead of depending solely on remote controllers or phone screens, we can interact with the immersive content using natural body and finger gestures.

Apple and Google clearly lead the way on AR technology, but today’s MR landscape favors Microsoft (HoloLens), and massively funded Magic Leap (so far a concept demo only).

Despite the commercial failure of Google Glass, Microsoft didn’t shy away from trying their own “holographic computer” in the MR game. The name “HoloLens” comes from the core experience “enabling you to engage with your digital content and interact with holograms in the world around you.” Although it hasn’t been made public yet, the holographic glasses use Dynamic Digitised Lightfield Signal—projecting images directly into the eye and “tricking” the brain into thinking it’s real. The result is a richer and more believable augmented experience.

Application of VR & AR to Agriculture

1. Education- Most farmers and workers associated with Agriculture remains ignorant with the latest modern technology. The need for teaching the untaught ones becomes the primary goal for Virtual Reality. Agricultural retailers can utilize the 360 degrees VR video to train the farmers on the new machines functionalities.
   

2. Microsoft hologram Mixed Reality

   Veterinary Diagnostic- This concept is applicable in the field of animal agriculture. Often the lack of local veterans ends up taking the life of the animal during the emergency. But the VR handset eliminates the distance issue by allowing the veterinary doctor to diagnose and instructs the person in the barn even from a distance. This is possible with a combination of a Microsoft Hololens worn by the person in the barn and a VR headset worn by the vet instructing the man from afar.
3. Virtual Crop Scouting- 360° cameras on drones and VR headsets will help farmers scan through the field and feed them with satellite images touching every minute corner of the field. Also, there are other benefits that are likely to be gained such as:

a.      Virtual Crop- VR will help farmers visualize future crop patterns by showing virtual crop growth based on weather patterns, practices etc. This, in turn, aids researchers in data collection, testing, and observance of the crop performances under any unwelcome environmental changes. Thus farmers are well prepared to face any challenge thrown at them.

b.     

Augmented Reality

Virtual Crop Monitoring scans the crop field to identify crop damages or crop growth etc.

4. Weather forecast prepares farmers accordingly to face different climatic conditions that either stimulates or stunts crop growth, as well as prior warning in the event of possible danger of floods or droughts.

Sources

Can Virtual Reality Succeessfully Revolutionize The Agricltural Sector. (2017, 09 26). Retrieved from Fluper: http://www.medium.com/@fluperofficial/can-virtual-reality-succeessfully-revolutionize-the-agricltural-sector-2a5c2bd8e788

Tall, T. (2017, 12). Augmental Reality vs Vitual Reality vs Mixed Reality - An Introductory Guide. Retrieved from Toptal: http://www.toptotal.com/designers/ui/augmented-reality-vs-mixed-reality