Towards Unmanned Ground Vehicles Safety in Construction: Immersive Virtual Reality Training Approach

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are being developed and deployed on construction sites for various tasks to increase productivity and improve safety. Despite the advantages of UGVs, however, their deployment is still fraught with safety concerns resulting from the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the construction site environments as well as technological problems resulting from novel control and operation systems. To understand the safety risks of UGV deployment on construction sites, this study explores the development of a Virtual Reality (VR) simulation environment for investigating construction worker understanding of UGV deployment risks. The study developed a construction UGV simulation environment using a combination of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and a Game engine, Unity3D following a design science methodology. The study further investigates safety attitudes and knowledge regarding UGV operation through immersive simulation of UGV use for goods transport on sites. A quasi-experimental set-up involving ( n =100) ‘civil engineering’ and ‘health and safety’ students was then adopted to test system’s utility as well as its impact on developing UGV safety knowledge and skills among construction students. The test involved the use of the developed application in comparison to traditional means of delivering training on safe UGV operation. Results from the experiments revealed an overwhelming level of acceptance of the VR-based UGV simulation approach for safety planning and training. It was found to particularly have a relative advantage over traditional training in terms of comprehension of risks and training efficacy. Furthermore, experimental results showed the efficacy of immersive simulation in depicting manoeuvring, collision and pedestrian interaction risks. The study revealed that the immersive simulation of UGV risks is an effective approach to UGV operational training for construction as well as an effective tool for safety planning.