Development of an Immersive Training Platform for Roadway Construction Workers using Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies

Work zones play a crucial role in maintaining and upgrading the nation’s roadway infrastructure. Roadway construction workers, as vulnerable roadway users, experience a significant number of fatalities and injuries in work zones. Safety training is critical in conserving a safe and equal working environment for roadway construction workers. Immersive training based on virtual reality (VR) technologies has become an attractive solution for safety training in high-risk environments (i.e., work zones). The goal of this study is to develop an immersive training platform, integrating the state-of-the-art VR and Augmented Reality (AR) systems for roadway construction workers in an efficient, safe, and cost-effective training approach. To achieve this goal, study objectives are to (1) identify critical work zone scenarios for workers’ immersive safety training, (2) determine appropriate VR technologies, (3) design and develop a prototype immersive training platform, and (4) conduct a preliminary test to evaluate the effectiveness of the immersive training platform for construction workers. The expected outputs include a prototype of an immersive training platform, successful experiences and lessons learned, and recommendations for implementing the platform. Through demonstrations, webinars, presentations, and publications, the technologies and products developed in this study will be transferred to the stakeholder (Florida Department of Transportation, District 7) and other agencies. The project results can be the basis for further research and development and teaching materials in graduate courses.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $70000
• Contract Numbers:

  022-06

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions & Dollars (CTEDD)

  University of Texas at Arlington
  Arlington, TX  United States  76019

  University of Texas at Arlington

  Box 19308
  Arlington, TX  United States  76019-0308

  Department of Transportation

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions & Dollars (CTEDD)

  University of Texas at Arlington
  Arlington, TX  United States  76019

  University of Texas at Arlington

  Box 19308
  Arlington, TX  United States  76019-0308
• Performing Organizations:

  University of South Florida, Tampa

  3650 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 160
  Tampa, FL  United States  33612
• Principal Investigators:

  Wang, Zhenyu

  Lin, Pei-Sung

• Start Date: 20220701
• Expected Completion Date: 20230630
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Lessons learned; Prototypes; Road construction workers; Training; Virtual reality; Work zone safety; Work zones
• Subject Areas: Construction; Data and Information Technology; Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01854738
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions & Dollars (CTEDD)
• Contract Numbers: 022-06
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 16 2022 6:21PM