A new educational app using world-leading augmented reality is hoping to teach producers how to recognise emergency animal diseases such as Foot & Mouth Disease without the anguish of experiencing an outbreak.
The Sheep Emergency Animal Disease Augmented Reality Tool, which was launched at the Growing SA Conference in Hahndorf on Tuesday, generates a flock of augmented reality sheep and allows the user to navigate the area and identify sick animals in the flock.
Once they have identified the symptoms such as lameness or foot lesions they can make a diagnosis to see if it is FMD, blue tongue, scrapie and sheep pox - four diseases not presently in Australia.
The tool has been developed by innovative SA company Think Digital in collaboration with Animal Health Australia and PIRSA who have funded it.
Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven says the launch of this world-first cutting edge tool could not be more timely with the heightened risk of emergency diseases.
"We are looking at a number of diseases that we haven't had in Australia before so producers are not necessarily familiar with the sort of symptoms to be looking for," she said.
"This experience means you can have a little of fun and see what may be causing concern and then see what disease it may be- it is not a diagnostic tool but an education tool."
Ms Scriven says it is "really exciting" for the sheep industry but also that the technology was developed in SA.
"The world is looking on and is wanting to find out more about the app and how augmented reality apps such as this can be used in the fight against emergency animal diseases," she said.
Animal Health Australia's head of biosecurity Rob Barwell says it is imperative that workers across the agriculture sector can spot suspicious signs and animal behaviour and be aware and comfortable with how to report any potential emergency disease incursions.
"We believe that this exciting simulation tool along with an associated information package will result in higher levels of engagement and ultimately improve awareness," he said.
"Feedback from user testing has been that the tool is easy to navigate and engaging to use, leading to better awareness of these diseases and the action required if suspected."
Think Digital chief executive officer Kat Bidstrup says the aim is to give producers an interactive tool to discuss biosecurity rather than just reading a piece of paper.
"I think it is really hard for producers to visualise what FMD actually may look like or present like in one of their flocks," she said.
"This shows it might not look that alarming and it may look quite similar to some of the other diseases they can have, hopefully it encourages them to take it quite seriously and question whether it could be FMD."
The Sheep EAD AR tool was demonstrated at Growing SA with special googles to give an immersive experience but the program can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play on any smart phone.
- Details: pir.sa.gov.au/sheep-ead
