Innovation used in civil construction enhances service to builders, property owners, users and maintenance professionals
When faced with the need to change a simple float in a flush box attached to a toilet, the property user can refer to the Building Operation, Use and Maintenance Manual, also known as the Owner's Manual. This form, which requires the use of a certain physical and mental effort to understand, is generally ignored and forgotten by the user who views it with boredom, even with the modifications and improvements that are continually incorporated into it. However, this publication, which must be delivered to property buyers by their builders, could become more interactive and assertive for its recipients – property managers, maintenance professionals, users and property owners and even benefit the construction companies themselves – if implemented with what is called Augmented Reality (AR). It is a technology that allows the superimposition of a virtual image on the visualization of the real, with the use of certain devices, and which can be used to enhance understanding and comprehension of what is observed.
In the case of changing the coupled box float, as shown in the animation, visualization can be achieved through a tablets or one smartglasses – so-called smart glasses – which, supported by applications and programs, allow the virtual image to be projected onto the real object. But for this projection to take place in the correct place, the camera of the device used – tablets ou smartglasses – needs to be oriented towards a marker. The same result, as illustrated below, can also be achieved if, next to the instructions in the manual, the corresponding marker is inserted.
Thesis developed by architect and UFBA professor Lorena Moreira, together with the Department of Architecture and Civil Construction, of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism (FEC) at Unicamp, aimed to evaluate and qualify the incorporation of AR resources into the Design Manual Use, Operations and Maintenance of buildings. This association through AR and the manual can go beyond the limits of visualization, allowing an approximation with the constructed object – building and each of its components, adding information. This research covers the area of Facility Management which covers management, operation and maintenance of buildings.
Professor Regina Ruschel, study advisor, explains the technology: “The environment is looked at and seen through the tablets or smartglasses who use one of the applications developed by Lorena. Once the marker pasted on the real object or reproduced in the printed manual itself is recognized, the virtual image appears on the image of the real object. This is RA. To achieve this, the image you want to add to the real object must be associated with a marker.” This feature optimizes the use of the manual as it improves its understanding by the majority of people who are not willing to read conventional print.
The researchers clarify that the work was developed taking into account the best manuals obtained from construction companies that were willing to provide them. In compliance with the standards established by ABNT – Brazilian Association of Technical Standards, these manuals, available in printed form, must include all the information necessary for the maintenance activities and use of the building. Its purposes are: to guide building users about its technical characteristics; recommend maintenance procedures; prevent the emergence of failures and accidents resulting from misuse; and contribute to the longevity of the building.
The virtual images used in the case study – the attached water tank – were built through 3D computer modeling, animated, with textures and other materials, and then submitted to necessary programs including the creation of the applications interface. Lorena explains that although there are several other ways of associating the virtual with the real, the one using the marker was adopted because it is the most common and simplest to implement.
Part of the work was monitored by one of the greatest international authorities in the field of AR, Professor Amir Behzadan, when the researcher was completing part of her sandwich doctorate at Missouri State University – Springfield, USA. What most impressed this foreign researcher, who also participated in the defense panel, was the fact that the work met the needs of lay citizens.
Lorena participated in the Construction Research Congress - CRC 2018, international event held in New Orleans (USA) in April 2018 and the article presented is available online in the repository of the American Society of Civil Engineers (https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784481264.045). Furthermore, the research won the ABRAFAC Award – Brazilian Association of Facilities – Best of the Year 2018 in the Academic Innovation category, awarded at a ceremony held in June in São Paul.
What was tested
The main objectives of the research were: 1) to identify user satisfaction in relation to the traditional Owner's Manual; 2) classify manuals collected at national level; 3) characterize the AR resources regarding their applicability in these manuals; 4) develop proposals for incorporating AR into manuals; 5) compare different AR visualization formats (tablets and smartglasses) regarding user performance; and 6) identify the solution with the greatest acceptance and applicability in the maintenance and operation of the housing unit.
As already mentioned, during the study two ways were tested to improve the Owner's Manual. Include the appropriate marker in the manual itself in order to see the AR on the manual itself on a reduced scale and simultaneously have access to its text, following the animation in the tablets it's through from smartglasses. The other way was, by abolishing the manual, spraying the markers in the environment itself on everything that required maintenance and viewing it using the same two devices. The experiment was also carried out using only the traditionally printed Owner's Manual.
The five experiments were carried out with one hundred volunteers (users and homeowners) in a universe made up of students, employees and teachers from Unicamp and visitors to the Leroy Merlin construction materials store, in Campinas. Regarding changing the buoy, each person was subjected to only one of the following five situations: use of the conventionally printed manual; use of the manual with the marker included in the printout with the AR displayed on the tablets or through smartglasses; use of the marker placed in the environment, in this case the attached box, with visualization through the tablets or smart glasses.
To qualify the incorporation of AR through these experiments, the researcher used the NASA TLX measurement method, which is based on the declaration of the workload by the user in each of the situations tested. The workload is determined based on demands: mental, physical, temporal, performance, mental and physical effort, and level of frustration. The workload fundamentally reveals the person's perception of effort and allows us to determine in which situation they feel most comfortable when carrying out a given task. This is a method generally used to test new products.
Results
As for the results, Professor Regina previously thought that anything could happen, because, given the lack of familiarity with the use of tablets and wearing glasses in these situations, those surveyed could express more comfort with just using the printed form.
According to the results expressed in the diagram, users were more comfortable when using the Owner's Manual in which the marker was included and with the AR visualized through the tablets. The manual associated with the physical element provided with a marker came in second place, although the two scores were very close. For Professor Regina, this finding is promising because it points towards the future possibility of distributing the Owner's Manual throughout the environment when AR glasses, as predicted by experts, are as widespread as tablets. The last place occupied by the printed manual proves its progressive obsolescence.
Regarding these findings, the teacher does not hide her enthusiasm: “If the construction industry asks me how to improve the Owner's Manual with the use of RA, I will suggest that they keep the manual printed, but with the marker for each maintenance item added, because this is the situation that presents the best performance at the moment, given the familiarity that the user has with the tablet. When AR glasses are as widespread as it is, then the best solution will be to spray the manual in the environment.” Even because, adds Lorena, research shows that new generations will increasingly take advantage of virtual and augmented reality and when this happens, smartglasses will be more widespread.
AR spread throughout the environment, according to the researchers, paves the way for the use of applications developed for smartglasses which will allow you to visualize in each component of the property the conditions that must be observed for its guarantee, technical specifications, methods of use and repair, energy consumption, allowing you to always do it with your hands free, which makes it easier to carry out tasks .
Regina considers that the work is long-lasting, as evidenced by the results achieved and outlined in the thesis, and is ready to be enjoyed by the construction industry, as long as construction companies or developers buy the idea. By the way, says Lorena: “We studied the possibility of the solution being implemented in all the items that normally appear in the owners' manuals and we found that our proposal can be perfectly incorporated into 90% of the items. It only depends on developers and construction companies to bring the benefits arising from academic work to society. And we are always willing to cooperate in this regard.”
