Publications / 2020 Proceedings of the 37th ISARC, Kitakyushu, Japan

Development of an Augmented Reality Fitness Index for Contractors

Hala Nassereddine, Wafik Lotfallah, Awad Hanna and Dharmaraj Veeramani
Pages 40-47 (2020 Proceedings of the 37th ISARC, Kitakyushu, Japan, ISBN 978-952-94-3634-7, ISSN 2413-5844)
Abstract:

Construction, one of the most informationintensive industries, plays a vital role in the prosperity of nations and is expected to grow to new heights. This significant expansion, along with the increased complexity and sophistication of construction projects and rapid advances in emerging technologies, has fueled construction companies' interest in innovation as a source of competitive advantage. Augmented Reality (AR), a pillar of Industry 4.0, is an emerging technology that is gaining traction in construction. AR can be described as both an information aggregator and a data publishing platform that allows the user to (1) passively view displayed information, (2) actively engage and interact with published content, and (3) collaborate with others in real-time from remote locations. The objective of this paper is to develop an Augmented Reality Fitness Index (ARFI) to assess the suitability and applicability of AR for contractors in the construction industry. The rationale behind the proposed index is to understand the perception of stakeholders regarding the eligibility of AR in the construction industry and to investigate the potential degree of usage of AR throughout the seven phases of the lifecycle of a construction project: conceptual planning, design, pre-construction planning, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning. From the literature review, 43 AR use-cases were identified and grouped into the seven phases of a construction project. A survey was then developed to capture contractors' level of familiarity with AR in construction, level of usage of AR in construction, and perceived possible use of each AR use-cases. Next, contractors' perceived relevance of each of the 43 AR use-cases was obtained by surveying a group of subject matter experts. Using the collected data, a mathematical model was developed to compute an ARFI for each phase. The computed ARFI is used as an indication to guide the implementation of AR in construction.

Keywords: Augmented Reality; Fitness Index; Contractors; Mathematical Model