Trend Analysis on Adoption of Virtual and Augmented Reality in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry

Abstract

With advances in Building Information Modeling (BIM), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies have many potential applications in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. However, the AEC industry, relative to other industries, has been slow in adopting AR/VR technologies, partly due to lack of feasibility studies examining the actual cost of implementation versus an increase in profit. The main objectives of this paper are to understand the industry trends in adopting AR/VR technologies and identifying gaps within the industry. The identified gaps can lead to opportunities for developing new tools and finding new use cases. To achieve these goals, two rounds of a survey at two different time periods (a year apart) were conducted. Responses from 158 industry experts and researchers were analyzed to assess the current state, growth, and saving opportunities for AR/VR technologies for the AEC industry. The findings demonstrate that older generations are significantly more confident about the future of AR/VR technologies and they see more benefits in AR/VR utilization. Furthermore, the research results indicate that Residential and commercial sectors have adopted these tools the most, compared to other sectors and institutional and transportation sectors had the highest growth from 2017 to 2018. Industry experts anticipated a solid growth in the use of AR/VR technologies in 5 to 10 years, with the highest expectations towards healthcare. Ultimately, the findings show a significant increase in AR/VR utilization in the AEC industry from 2017 to 2018.

Augmented reality for ESL/EFL and bilingual education: an international comparison

“…Nowadays, AR has found widespread use in different subjects and educational contexts. In higher education it is used in numerous contexts, including Medicine Studies (Tang et al, 2020), Architecture and Engineering (Noghabaei et al, 2020) and Education Sciences (Sáez-López et al, 2020), among many others. This increasing application is due to AR allowing: (1) an easier comprehension of complex relations and abstract concepts (Arvanitis et al 2009); (2) the manipulation of time, position, angles and rotations (Shelton, & Hedley, 2004); (3) scaffolding (Kerawalla et al, 2006); and (4) the development of different types of competences (Squire, & Han, 2007), among others.…”

Digital Technologies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry—A Bibliometric—Qualitative Literature Review of Research Activities

“…In general, the advantages of using DTs in the AEC industry are known to be immense. For instance, AR-VR technologies have shown promising results in a number of fields related to the AEC industry offering solutions to collaborative and communication issues [ 21 ]. Methodologies such as BIM for project documentation and architecture management enable teams to work on a cooperative network, collaborate and share project data [ 21 ].…”

“…For instance, AR-VR technologies have shown promising results in a number of fields related to the AEC industry offering solutions to collaborative and communication issues [ 21 ]. Methodologies such as BIM for project documentation and architecture management enable teams to work on a cooperative network, collaborate and share project data [ 21 ]. Various examples of VR integrations assembled for applications associated with the AEC show promising results, e.g., urban planning [ 22 ], acoustic analysis [ 23 ], design analysis and decision-making support [ 24 ], construction safety [ 25 ], enhancement in spatial perception and learning results in engineering related areas [ 26 ].…”

Controlling an Industrial Robot Using a Graphic Tablet in Offline and Online Mode

“…The qualitative leap that accompanies the fourth industrial revolution results in humans and machines co-creating a production system [ 15 ]. In this system, various components can be distinguished: Incremental manufacturing (3D printing)—used to produce complete products [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], systems integration—the flow of data and control signals between machines, information systems, people and management systems [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)—the unified integration of statuary and management systems [ 23 , 24 ], Cloud computing—making external hardware and software resources available to process production data and perform complex calculations for the production process itself as well as for management systems [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], big data analysis (Big Data)—i.e., the use of large computing powers to collect, store and analyze large amounts of data [ 28 , 29 ], augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]—technologies that are proposing to move industry to virtual and augmented reality, Cyber security—which plays a huge role in cloud computing and analyzing large data sets on external servers [ 33 , 34 ]. …”

“…augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]—technologies that are proposing to move industry to virtual and augmented reality,…”