Contextualizing benefits and limitations reported for augmented reality in construction research

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) has been in use for years, and is increasingly being adopted in the construction industry. Research has explored various applications of AR in construction to identify its benefits and drawbacks. To synthesize these findings, prior works have conducted literature reviews about AR in construction, but these papers generally focus on identifying attributes for which there is consensus about AR benefits or drawbacks. While this is important, it highlights the need to identify trends in AR literature for which there is divergence in reporting to better understand the underlying contextual factors that may impact the success of AR implementation. This paper investigates trends in AR literature by studying both benefits and limitations reported when using current generation AR devices for construction applications. This is done by reviewing 49 articles from 2013 to 2020 found through a key word search for “augmented reality”, “mixed reality” and “construction”. The papers are categorized according to the most common attributes reported. The benefits and limitations identified are analysed based on how the technology was used. For several AR attributes, including ease of implementation, learning/training time, field of view, hardware and software performance, occlusion and immersiveness, there was consensus in reporting among researchers. For other AR attributes, including cost, cognitive performance, development time, tracking and registration, attitude towards the technology, and efficiency, there was divergence in reports among researchers. For each of these divergent attributes, the authors provide a discussion related to the contextual factors that were present. Beyond illustrating that some attributes do not lead to agreement between researchers, the results also indicate contextual factors that may contribute to the difference in reports. These findings contribute to the literature by enabling researchers to include or exclude contextual factors to gain or mitigate previously reported benefits or challenges when using AR in construction.

Applications of augmented reality for construction productivity improvement: a systematic review

“…It provides exposure to a project before its physical existence, providing experienced and inexperienced construction practitioners with a unique learning opportunity (Kwon et al, 2014). Zhou et al (2017) describe how augmented reality enabled engineers to complete their tasks after a brief training session, reducing their learning time (El Asmar et al, 2021). In addition to saving time during training, the application has been shown to reduce stress compared to traditional training methods (Chalhoub et al, 2021).…”

“…In addition to saving time during training, the application has been shown to reduce stress compared to traditional training methods (Chalhoub et al, 2021). The reduced training time contributes to decreased employee training costs, which justifies the technology's up-front cost (El Asmar et al, 2021).…”

“…Compared to other sectors, the construction sector is experiencing slower productivity growth globally (El Asmar et al, 2021). Due to the sector's substantial contribution to economic growth, stakeholders and policymakers in the construction industry are placing a greater emphasis on productivity growth.…”

“…Some applications are useful for productivity improvement, while others cannot be directly associated with productivity. This research considers the prevalence of poor productivity in construction organisations (Enshassi et al, 2007;Dai and Goodrum, 2011;Jarkas and Bitar, 2012;Akogbe et al, 2015;Alaghbari et al, 2019;El Asmar et al, 2021), which contributes to the sector's slower productivity growth.…”

“…AR applications have recently extended to the manufacturing, tourism, education, marketing, sports, training and construction sectors to deliver a better quality of life (Fazel and Izadi, 2018). The technology provides an experience where virtual contents, including information and graphics, can be presented in their physical context (El Asmar et al, 2021). Its usage combines the real world and computer-generated data.…”