Smart Glasses for Augmented Reality as a Digital Tool in Livestock Farms: Investigation of Operating Performances, Usability Level, and Farmers’ Acceptance

The main objective of the thesis was to study emerging digital technologies, such as smart glasses (SG) for augmented reality (AR), in a livestock farming context. The performances, the technical degree of integration into the farm, and the interactions with agricultural stakeholders were evaluated. The thesis includes a general introduction, five experimental contributions, and general conclusions. Chapter 1 reports the main aspects of digital agriculture with a focus on the PLF technologies. Moreover, the state of the art and the technical details of AR and SG are provided. A brief explanation on IT systems acceptability and usability concludes the general introduction section. The first experimental contribution (Chapter 2) concerns the preliminary investigation of the SG in a livestock farm. The evaluations were focused on the device technical aspects testing the performances of a specific SG as a feasible tool to support farmer decision-making for precision animal management. Another type of SG, with different technical and constructive features, were stressed (Chapter 3). Moreover, a specific AR maintenance support framework was designed for the milking machine check. In the fourth chapter, three different types of SGs were compared, to assess which could be the best technical, functional, and operating characteristics for the agro-livestock domain. Chapter 5 focused on the study of users’ interaction with the AR device, evaluating the farmers' perception in the use of SG for the identification of animals during grouping activities. The last experimental contribution (Chapter 6) concerns the investigation of agricultural stakeholders’ perceptions, attitudes, and adoption intention of SG. Based on the scientific literature on the technology acceptance model, a specific survey was developed to test which factors might influence the intention to use SG to support farmers’ activities. Finally, the main funding of the thesis work is reported in Chapter 7.