Virtual reality-based meat cut planning for lamb carcasses

Abstract

ABSTRACT Consumer-level Virtual Reality (VR) hardware/software has undergone rapid developments in recent years. Its potential use in the meat industry for meat cut planning has yet to be reported. In this communication, we introduce a VR system based on a VR goggle (Oculus Rift) and a hand motion sensor. A lamb carcass’s musculoskeletal model (or atlas) is imported into an immersive virtual environment, created by a 3D VR engine (Unity3D). Virtual resection is performed by using a virtual knife operating on the virtual atlas as per standard meat cut specifications of New Zealand. The procedure yields instant volume and weight information of each primary and retail meat cut. We suggest that the VR system can potentially be used in a high-volume slaughterhouse for meat-cut planning and marketing decisions.