Virtual Reality in Russia

(A cow in Russia, fitted with a virtual reality headset)

     I have always had an interest in virtual reality, upon doing some research on what Russia has been working on in that field I found a very peculiar article. Russian farmers have begun to fit their cattle with virtual reality headsets (no, this is not a joke). My first impression when reading through this article was that cows were starting to experiment playing virtual reality video games, similar to what people can play on a device such as an Oculus Quest, unfortunately that's not the case, however, this is still neat. The purpose of these cows wearing virtual reality headsets is that the farmers hope to see an increase in milk production. The reasoning behind this experiment is that the cows equipped with these devices would have lower anxiety, based on research from other countries, cows with lower anxiety levels tend to produce more milk. What the cows get to see are beautiful green open pastures, depicted in the summer season. These headsets aren't just your standard VR headsets that can be found on sites such as Amazon though, they were intricately designed to fit to the shape of a cow's head. Findings from this experiment noted that the cows were in an improved emotional state and that these virtual landscapes, did in fact lower their anxiety.



(One of the first works commissioned by Garage Digital, Russian Federations)

A woman by the name of  Dasha Zhukova, a resident of Russia and the founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, has begun a new, ambitious project titled "Garage Digital" Garage digital is a new initiative that will allow artists to commission their own digital artworks while also providing historical contexts for their older works. Garage Digital is an entirely virtual art gallery, which can be found within the walls of the physical museum. The purpose of this project is to support code within the interior of the building's walls, allowing visitors to view the original works alongside the digital perspectives of them, with detailed descriptions about the creator and the meaning behind them. The museum also plans to implement art, video game design, and computer simulations to fully immerse visitors into what could be deemed as an entirely virtual and interactive art gallery.

Wanna learn more about this incredibly awesome project and see some videos detailing the experiment, check out the link below:
https://observer.com/2019/12/vr-headsets-russian-cows-milk-production/

More information about the Garage Digital Art Gallery can be found below:
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/garage-museum-digital-platform-1202670950/

Technology in the Russian Classroom

(One of the more recent models of Russia's Irbis tablets)

     Education paves the way for developing minds in a country, the effectiveness of an education system has a direct impact on the future of a country. Technology is being integrated into the classroom more and more everyday and Russia is making the most out of it. Russia began a project called the Moscow Online School Project just a few years ago and it has already become the largest project in the world for digitization in the classroom. Nearly one million students are a part of this program and sixty-five thousand teachers are sharing their expertise with these students. The project features some of the highest Internet speeds in the country and has converted classrooms into high-tech media centers with modern devices and a single point of data storage. Promethean, a Russian tech company, created a tablet like interfaces called Irbis that features a customizable interface that teachers and students can use to personalize their experience to match their goals, nearly twenty-two thousand classrooms are utilizing these devices.




(Indian PM Narhendra Modi with Russian President Putin and other world leaders, at the 2016 BRICS conference)

The educational technology sector in India is one of the country's largest sectors, Google estimates that this sector alone could be worth nearly two-billion dollars. What does this mean for Russian education, well, it means that the nation's capital, Moscow, sees this as an opportunity for collaboration with New Delhi in educational technology. Moscow State University, along with other India institutions, have discussed partnerships This isn't the first time the two nations have discussed cooperation in higher education, back in 2016 Prime Minister Modi and President Putin conversed about the topic with the former stating that "Russia is India's unwavering friend".




Want to read more in full about the digital classroom, the Irbis system, and even chess? Check out this article:
https://edtechnology.co.uk/Blog/chess-meets-tech-in-russian-schools/

India and Russia have big plans in store for their students in the future, if you wish to read up about the topic a little more in depth, click on the link below:
https://thepienews.com/news/russia-eyes-edtech-development-with-india/

A Look Into Russia's Military Technologies

(One of Russia's current tank models)

     Over the course of the past few years, Russia has been making breakthroughs in developments of innovative technologies. Being one of the world's leading producers of modern technology, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the country has been integrating their latest developments into their military. Specifically, Russia has been focusing most of their research into complex robotics and artificial intelligence. Right now, Russia owns the second largest Unnamed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) fleet out of every country, behind the United States and above Canada, with nearly four-thousand of these in their arsenal. "Russia’s sophistication in military AI is characterized by fast, efficient machines that can handle data, break down the complex information within split seconds, and relay it to the soldiers handling it" (Giridharadas, 2019).

(A look at one of Russia's, on-ground ballistic missiles)

Russia has been developing and perfecting their SS-26 Stone's, which is a fancy name for their short-range road unit nuclear ballistic missile systems. Currently, these are still being worked on, however, by the end of 2020, the country says that all of the missile units of the Russian Ground Forces will be fitted and equipped with these attachments. "The tactical ballistic missile can be deployed to destroy a host of different targets including missile and multiple launch rocket systems, artillery batteries, as well as command posts and communications centers" (Gady, 2017). Russia plans on sharing these missiles with countries such as China, India, and South Korea, however, the variants that would be shipped out to these countries cannot be armed with a nuclear warhead, whereas the country's local variant can be. 

While it's impressive how rapidly Russia is pushing out and perfecting this kind of technology, it makes you wonder how this will affect the world in the long run, and what these breakthroughs mean for other countries. If you wish to read up more about some of the technologies discussed in this post, consider checking out these two sites to learn more about them:

Robotics and AI:

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-military-transforming-and-getting-stronger-right-our-eyes-67907

Ballistic Missiles:

https://thediplomat.com/2017/05/russia-to-arm-ground-forces-with-new-ballistic-missile-by-2020/