Training about Drone Safety Challenges in Construction using a 360 Virtual Environment: Analyzing Learning Effectiveness

9 pages•Published: December 11, 2023

Abstract

Utilizing drones on construction sites could put workers who are already in dangerous environments into even more risky situations. Therefore, researchers have explored the safety challenges and their countermeasures regarding drone integration into construction sites. This study proposes using a 360- degree virtual reality (360VR) training environment to educate construction professionals on the safety concerns that drones could pose and how to work safely on a drone-populated site. This study specifically focuses on the knowledge gap of how trainees’ backgrounds, such as construction experience, work experience with drones, and prior understanding of drones, could be associated with the effects of the training. This study created comprehensive pedagogical intervention content using 360VR, followed by a user-centered pre- and post-experiment. After training, participants’ knowledge levels improved by 41% on average. Furthermore, the results indicate that trainees’ construction experience and job experience with drones were not associated with their knowledge levels. Moreover, those with lower levels of understanding about drones significantly improved their knowledge scores after the training. The result shows that trainees with different knowledge about drones may be suitable for trainings with different levels of difficulty.

Keyphrases: 360 Virtual Reality (360VR), Construction Safety, Drones, Immersive training, training assessment

In: Tom Leathem, Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 59th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 4, pages 139--147

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/STN2
	https://doi.org/10.29007/pdrr