Researchers Develop Miniature VR Goggles for Mice

People aren’t the only ones diving into the virtual reality frenzy. In a charming twist, scientists have unveiled a new tech allowing mice to fully immerse in VR settings, specifically in laboratory environments.

This breakthrough from researchers at Cornell University is called MouseGoggles. When tested on mice, these tiny goggles seemed to enable the rodents to vividly interact with simulated environments. This development promises to streamline how scientists conduct animal studies using VR technology.

Initially, it might sound amusing—rodent VR—but this innovation holds practical value. Ideally, VR can let scientists recreate naturalistic settings for mice under precise conditions. At present, the typical setups are somewhat clumsy, where mice run on treadmills surrounded by computer or projection screens. These screens fall short of covering the entire field of view for the mice, and sometimes, it takes ages for them to engage with the VR environment, if they even do at all.

The team at Cornell believes their MouseGoggles surpass existing mice VR models. Instead of concocting a mini VR headset from scratch, they crafted their system using small, affordable components from smartwatches and other gadgets. As with other VR setups, the MouseGoggles have the mice positioned on a treadmill, with their heads fixed to the goggles while they receive visual cues.

“Borrowing parts and utilizing them in new ways really played into the hacker spirit,” explained Matthew Isaacson, a postdoc researcher at Cornell, speaking to the Cornell Chronicle. “The perfect display size for a mouse VR headset surprisingly matches those made for smartwatches. We’re fortunate we didn’t need to invent anything from scratch; all the parts we needed were readily available and budget-friendly.”

To verify the efficacy of their creation, the researchers put mice through various simulations, simultaneously monitoring brain activity and behavior. Throughout the tests, they observed that the mice genuinely responded to the VR as anticipated. In one scenario, they assessed how the mice reacted to a dark shape gradually approaching, simulating a potential threat.

“When we initially tried this test with the larger screen-based setups, the mice showed no response,” Isaacson noted. “However, when using the goggles for the first time, nearly every mouse had a strong startle response—they really believed a predator was looming.”

Their study was published earlier this month in the journal Nature Methods. The team suggests that making VR more realistic for mice could offer numerous future advantages. Enhanced VR experiments could aid scientists in mapping and understanding brain activity in mice with Alzheimer’s, especially in regions dealing with spatial awareness and memory. Additionally, it could improve foundational research aimed at testing possible treatments for brain disorders.

Isaacson and his team aren’t alone in developing VR systems for rodents. However, they believe theirs is the first to incorporate eye and pupil tracking. They are also working on a lightweight, portable VR setup suitable for larger rodents, such as rats or tree shrews, with plans to integrate further advancements, like taste and smell simulations, in future versions.