Development and testing of immersive virtual reality environment for safe unmanned aerial vehicle usage in construction scenarios

Robotics and autonomous systems are increasingly being used on construction sites to complete tasks and complement human effort. One such autonomous system is unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), although their wrong use could be potentially hazardous to humans and the environment. Given its relative novelty in construction, there remains a dearth of knowledge about safety risks associated with their use as well as knowledge on skills and protocols for their safe operation. With construction being one of the most dangerous and accident-prone sectors, there is even more impetus to develop UAV safety competence. In this study, we explore the application of immersive virtual reality (VR) use for purposes of safety training pertaining to the use of UAVs in construction scenarios. Whereas, previous studies, focussed on effectiveness of VR as a tool for training individuals on UAV operations and safety risks in general, this study evaluates its effectiveness across distinctive themes of safety in order to compare its effectiveness in different domains of UAV safety. The study adopts design science for development of bespoke UAV safety training tool in VR using Building Information Modelling (BIM) and game engine-driven virtual prototyping. The immersive training tool was then applied in an experiment of participants (n = 100) with (n = 50) constituting a control group using more traditional training methods and a series of pre/post-test assessments. The findings confirmed the relative superiority of VR training over traditional methods, improving performance and retention by up to 22 % on average. The immersive VR was found to be most effective on participants retention of knowledge in general flight preparation, air traffic documentation, visibility management and warning signals. Further usability tests were performed on all participants (n = 100) revealing general presence and positive attitudes towards VR based UAV safety training when compared to traditional training. From a practice perspective this research proofs the effectiveness of a VR approach as more cost effective and safe approach to UAV training for both academia and practice with added advantage of being more realistic simulation of the UAV risk scenarios.