Author(s):
As the construction industry gears towards widespread acceptance of robots, a paradigmatic shift in skills and abilities becomes evident, stressing the need to prepare construction engineering students to excel in highly technological work environments. However, the current construction curriculum is inadequate to equip Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) students with the required set of multi-disciplinary competencies in working alongside construction robots. Firstly, there is a lack of clear understanding of the core competencies required by CEM students for safely interacting with robots. Secondly, there is a lack of an effective learning environment to provide hands-on learning for developing these competencies. Recent innovations in immersive technologies have facilitated the widespread use of virtual reality (VR) among institutions of higher education. To transform CEM education using construction robotics, this project addressed the key research question: How do CEM students relate to virtual robots within an immersive learning environment to develop competencies needed for safely interacting with construction robots? In response, the project aimed to a) investigate the competencies required for CEM students to interact with construction robots; b) evaluate the affordances of an immersive environment designed for interaction with construction robots in executing construction tasks; c) identify characteristics of the immersive environment that facilitate such interaction; and d) identify if individual demographics influence virtual robot interaction. To that end, the project developed a survey and sent it nationwide to CEM industry professionals to investigate the required competencies. The findings indicated that operational proficiency, problem-solving abilities, and collaborative skills are major competencies required by CEM students to interact with robots during construction work. Based on these findings, an immersive learning environment was developed for enabling students to develop skills for safely collaborating with construction robots. To assess its effectiveness, a self-assessment approach was leveraged among students to assess learning outcomes and engagement level from the proposed learning approach over the traditional learning approach (slides). Results indicated that immersive learning enhances learning outcomes and engagement compared to traditional learning. Further, to ensure that the findings are generalizable and transferable across diverse demographics, the study will leverage the developed environment to different demography of students, which is anticipated to showcase a correlation between higher spatial reasoning abilities and more effective interaction with the virtual robots across diverse demographics. The findings elucidate the challenges that students face in learning how to safely interact and collaborate with robots during construction work. Further, the findings also advance the understanding of the affordances of pedagogical tools that address the technological gap between the construction industry and undergraduate CEM education. The broader impact of the study lies in properly preparing a technically competent future workforce, which will advance the innovation and creativity needed to enhance safe, productive, and quality construction work environments when interacting with robots. An understanding of the immersive learning environment also has a broad societal impact on developing online learning environments to increase engagement and retention.
Coauthors
Abiola Akanmu, Virgina Tech, Blacksburg; Scarlett Miller, Penn State, State College; Priya Sharma, Penn State, State College
