AR/VR Work in AEC

We leverage AR/VR for work zone safety and modular construction.

1) Work Zone Safety:

Work zone fatalities at road construction projects account for up to 3% of all workplace fatalities in a given year (FHWA). In order to prevent the fatalities, the main proactive approaches adopted by construction companies to prevent these incidents is safety training courses, which are designed to help increase workers’ awareness of hazards around the job sites and take timely actions to avoid injuries. With the goal of reducing the number of injuries and fatalities, we aim to understand the key parameters that play roles in achieving responsive behaviors in workers. 

2) Modular Construction:

The productivity of the construction industry has been stagnant for 30 years. Modular construction is expected to increase the productivity of the overall construction industry, but the nature of ever-changing construction projects limits the automation level of the construction project. The goal of our project is to develop an AI assistant that can interact with workers to improve productivity inside the factory. We are aiming for building a system that can inform the progress of the product being assembled and the location of the next material to workers.

Research, Design or Technical Issues Involved or Addressed

1) Work Zone Safety:

work zone safety knowledge from training courses is not enough to change the level of vigilance of workers, which is easily affected by factors such as fatigue or environmental distractions.

2) Modular Construction:

The ever-changing nature means that the products and parts produced change each time the project changes. In accordance with this characteristic, it is necessary to develop a framework that utilizes VR to quickly learn changed products and sequences of tasks.