Construction Workforce Training Assisted with Augmented Reality

As augmented reality evolves, many use cases for the technology have emerged in the construction industry. Training new practitioners in the industry is an ever-growing challenge because a significant number of seasoned practitioners are leaving the workforce. Every year the construction industry is faced with fewer skilled trade workers that can train their replacement. While construction students obtain most of their theoretical knowledge in the classroom, there is a lack of resources to instruct and train trade workers. Using augmented reality for instruction and training has many applications in other industries and can be used to approach the issues that the construction industry faces. In this research, a comparison was analyzed between construction management students that learned from two-dimensional paper construction drawings to those that used an augmented reality assisted instructional device. Both sets of students were instructed on how to properly layout and erect a wood framed wall. Overall findings indicated that the students that used the augmented reality device made fewer mistakes during the exercise than the students using the paper plans. Further, the researchers collected NASA Task Load information from the students to gauge their perceived effort using the augmented reality device. The findings indicated an increased performance perception with less overall effort during the study. These findings support a case for the use of augmented reality as a support tool for workforce training – especially at a time in the construction industry when there are so few to call upon to do the training.