The US Military has started trialling augmented reality goggles on dogs to get them trained up for the real world.
Command Sight has created the technology and it is currently being managed by the US Army Research Laboratory.
At the moment, military dogs are trained by soldiers who use hand signals and laser pointers to tell the canine where to go or what to sniff out.
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That means a person has to be physically present and remain close to the dog to ensure it gets the target.
These goggles hope to replicate this type of training but making it virtual. It also means the dogs will be able to navigate real-world scenarios while the soldier remains hidden.
The goggles have a built-in camera that gives a handler a live feed of what the dog is looking at and there's a heads-up display that can show commands to the dog.
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Dr Stephen Lee, a senior scientist with the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), said: "AR will be used to provide dogs with commands and cues; it's not for the dog to interact with it like a human does. The military working dog community is very excited about the potential of this technology."
The military has primarily been doing testing on a Rottweiler named Mater, who is owned by Command Sight's founder Dr AJ Peper.
He's praised Mater for taking on the new training with gusto.
"His ability to generalise from other training to working through the AR goggles has been incredible," he said. "We still have a way to go from a basic science and development perspective before it will be ready for the wear and tear our military dogs will place on the units."
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Dr Peper admits that the technology is still in the early stages but reckons the results so far are 'extremely promising'.
As a result, he's been given more funding to produce a wireless version of the augmented reality goggles, which will mean the dog will be able to get up and move more during its training.
Featured Image Credit: Command Sight/US Army