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Integrating drones into construction sites can introduce new risks to workers who already work in hazardous environments. Consequently, several recent studies have investigated the safety challenges and solutions associated with this technology integration in construction. However, there is a knowledge gap about effectively communicating such safety challenges to construction professionals and students who may work alongside drones on job sites. In this study, a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) environment was created as a training platform to communicate the safety challenges of worker-drone interactions on construction jobsites. This pilot study assesses the learning effectiveness and user experience of the developed 360 VR worker-drone safety training, which provides an immersive device-agnostic learning experience. The result indicates that such 360 VR learning material could significantly increase the safety knowledge of users while delivering an acceptable user experience in most of its assessment criteria. The outcomes of this study will serve as a valuable resource for improving future worker-drone safety training materials.
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Revitalizing Students Perception and Knowledge of Construction Safety: Leveraging Virtual Reality as an Experiential Learning Tool for Construction Robotic Safety Education
Traditional lectures have difficulties instilling pragmatic skills in construction engineering students due to the inability to illuminate the complexities within the human-robot collaborative construction environment. While on-site can acclimatize construction students to reality and construct knowledge that can solve safety challenges, it is challenging to organize on-site training trips owing to the dangerous nature of construction workplaces. This research aimed to explore virtual reality (VR) as a tool to enhance students’ perception and knowledge of construction robotic safety. For this purpose, the study developed a virtual training platform for providing construction engineering students with safety knowledge on interacting with simulated robots within the virtual environment of construction sites. A self-assessment approach was leveraged among 20 recruited students to demonstrate the efficacy of students’ engagement and learning outcomes from the proposed learning approach over the traditional learning approach. Results indicated a statistical difference in students’ learning outcomes and engagement levels between the developed approach and the traditional approach. Findings demonstrated the implications of VR as an experiential tool to enhance the students’ learning of robotic safety in construction.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2402008
- PAR ID:
- 10518003
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Construction Research Congress 2024
- ISBN:
- 9780784485293
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 129 to 138
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784485293.014
