Study Overview

Construction is one of the most dangerous and least productive industries. We have already seen a tremendous increase in the deployment of drones in construction and it is expected that there will be more collaboration and interaction between human workers and drones in the construction industry. The integration of such flying robots in the construction jobsites raises novel occupational safety and health issues which, might make the construction industry more dangerous than before. A significant amount of research has been done about how drone technology can be used for specific construction-related tasks; however, understanding the safety challenges and risks of incorporating such technology in day-to-day human-drone collaborative tasks on the construction sites is yet to be investigated. In this study, we will employ simulation techniques and virtual reality technology to study the health and safety challenges of construction crew collaboratively working with drones on the construction jobsites. The specific objectives of the project are:

This project is a part of a research collaboration between the Human-Centred Technology in Construction (HCTC) lab and the Construction Automation & Safety Lab (CASL) in the Rinker School of Construction Management at the University of Florida.