Former rally driver and sheep farmer Rhys Gardner has poured the knowledge he has gained from those careers into developing three-dimensional virtual reality (VR) experiences of operating vehicles in ‘real life’ situations.

Now he’s teamed up with Safer Farms to provide that technology for farmers to experience at the upcoming Mystery Creek Fieldays® from 11-14 June.

At the same time, he’s calling on farmers to share their real life near misses or accidents so his team can turn them into VR learnings that others can benefit from.  

Gardner grew up on a steep hill farm near the Catlins in Otago, “where we were surrounded by risks but we never really recognised them”.  

He farmed throughout his 20s and 30s and experienced several near misses on quads and tractors himself.  

In 2015, he formed his Dunedin-based Gfactor business, dedicated to unleashing the power of VR to provide people with the opportunity to manage the risks involved in using vehicles, through a VR lived experience.

Fresh from taking the farm/quad bike version of their programme to the US, where it had a powerful impact on riders at expos in Wisconsin and Arizona, Gardner has teamed up with Safer Farms to provide visitors to Fieldays® with the same experience.  

Visitors to the Safer Farms stand in the Pavilion will be able to take part in the free seven-minute 3D experience involving ATV’s in potentially risky situations.

“The core value of what we do is the ability for people to experience the consequences of their actions,” says Gardner.  

“The session provides a very clear experience of what good looks like and what bad looks like.

“Psychology and human behaviour are at the core of everything we do. It’s not about telling people what to do. Rather, they experience what it would be like if they chose to make that decision in the real world, in a place where they could make a mistake.

“I believe strongly that most people learn from ‘doing’. The cool thing about VR is that people can try things and live the experience of what would happen in that real-life situation but they can do that without getting hurt.”

When the team first turned their attention to creating ATV farm VR experiences, they cut a real side-by-side in half, put it on a robotic platform and recreated Gardner’s steep family farm in VR, with the use of pedal and steering controls.  

That entire experience has now been refined into a system using VR headsets.  

In the US, Gfactor is partnering with a foundation that is working to promote awareness around safe use of quad bikes. There are over 10 million quad bikes in the US, contributing to at least  40,000 serious or fatal youth injuries each year.  

One of the situations recreated is based on a real life accident which led to the death of a young man. This has been created with the blessing of the victim’s family.

Gardner says riders that tried the simulation were deeply affected when they recognised the different choices that could have made all the difference.  

He believes there are three reasons most farm vehicle accidents happen.  

“One is deliberately taking a shortcut on something or going somewhere we know we probably shouldn’t be. A busy farmer might be trying to get stuff done and jump on a bike without even realising that one of the tyres is completely flat.

“A second is that there is something we don’t actually know or understand. Like a vehicle slipping down a hill because we didn’t know the 4WD settings in a new machine.

“For me, that was the loss of control of a tractor in 2WD with a loader on the front, down a steep hill. I’d been told many times but never really understood the importance.

“The third is complacency or distraction, not paying enough attention. Sometimes because we are thinking about something else or slept poorly. Most of my near-misses actually fall under this one, often during times when there’s a bit of stress on.

“Each time, I’ve had an accident or near miss because of one of these reasons, there’s been something important that I’ve realised afterwards.  

“Ideally that realisation could happen in VR without the physical pain and the embarrassment when everyone finds out about the mistake I made. Often it’s not even about skill but the practical decisions that I made in the moment.”

Gardner is looking forward to some good discussions at Mystery Creek with operators faced with the challenges of running vehicles and teams in tough conditions.

“This is what we are trying to do for farmers and ATV riders in New Zealand and the US.  We are inviting them to share their own accounts of near misses -- in other words -- ‘war stories’. Ideally, we will turn them into VR scenarios too, so everyone can benefit from those experiences.”