Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8
The iHelmet: An AR-enhanced
Wearable Display for BIM
Information
Kai-Chen Yeh, Meng-Han Tsai
and Shih-Chung Kang
8.1 Introduction
This chapter focuses on an enduring construction problem: on-site information
retrieval. A wearable device has been developed that can project construction
drawings and related information, answering to the needs of the users. This device
obviates the need for engineers to carry bulky construction drawings to the site and
reduces the effort required in looking for the correct drawings to obtain the
information they need. The wearable device includes four modules that can:
transfer information in the building information model (BIM) into images to
enable on-site retrieval; enable users to input their locations and automatically
search for images that the users might need; analyze the gestures of the users from
the touch screen and accelerometer, and then crop the images to eliminate
unneeded information; continually calculate the images processed and scale
them accordingly, ensuring that the projection results in a correct scale. A hardware
device, coined the iHelmet, has also been developed to house the four modules.
It consists of a construction helmet (weight: 460g), an iPod Touch (weight: 115g)
and an Optoma LED projector (Weight: 114g). It is believed that the AEC industry
may benefit from the iHelmet's improved efficiency in browsing information and
its offer of more visualized information for the user.
8.1.1 Challenges in exploring building information
The main challenge in exploring building information on site is in retrieving
information using 2D drawings on paper as references in order to interpret
construction information (Azhar
et al
., 2008). At present, construction engineers
are frequently inconvenienced by the need to explore detailed information from
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