An associate professor at Iowa State University's College of Design has created a project designed to improve the quality of life for livestock.
Austin Stewart's proposed venture "Second Livestock" uses virtual reality goggles and an omni-directional treadmill to promote healthy, content chickens.
Only a concept of the project exists, and it is designed to get people to ask questions about standards of living.
"The goal of the project is to raise that question of how do we know what's best, or what is humane treatment, and also to look at how we treat ourselves," Stewart said. "We're living in these little boxes, just like chickens."
While battery farms result in greater production of eggs, the hens in these farms live in small cages, don't get to exercise, attack each other often and develop health issues, according to CNET.
The project involves chickens wearing virtual reality headsets similar to the Oculus Rift. The headset would simulate a free range experience that would let them believe they are wondering in a virtual farmland, IGN reported.
"It's really pastoral," Stewart said of the virtual world. "There's weaving grass, a few trees and some artificial intelligence chickens wandering around as well."
While the chickens would supposedly be happy, they would also be kept safe from predators, CNET reported.
While wearing the headsets, the chickens would be housed in zero-waste facilities. Waste would be recycled into fertilizer, and the chickens would receive filtered sunlight, receiving enough vitamin D to stay healthy. Each chicken would also wear sensors that let farmers know when a bird hasn't been active enough, allowing them to treat illnesses.
Second Livestock is also designed to get people to discuss how humans are getting more involved with virtual reality, CNET reported.
"I think we need to carefully evaluate whether this direction is a good direction to go for our species," Stewart said. "It's not so much that virtual reality is lacking humanity as it's creating these really safe environments where we're not actually exposed to anything harmful, which I don't think would actually be really good for us."
