BARRIERS TO AUGMENTED REALITY APPLICATION IN CONSTRUCTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Malaysian construction industry is always labelled as ancient industry because of resistance to change or adopt new technology in their working process. The construction industry in Malaysia is slow in adopting new technology compared to other industries. Therefore, it has a bad reputation for producing good quality products, and complete within time frame and cost. These problems arose because of failures to effectively communicate among parties in the construction project due to the complexity of the construction project. In the era of digitalisation, the utilisation of new technology could help the construction industry overcome the issues of processing complex information. The usage of Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the approaches. AR technology has gained much attention in the construction industry on how it potentially helps solve common problems in construction. AR integrates digital information with a real-time user environment to resolve communication issues in complex projects. Besides that, AR can minimise 2D drawing by digitally visualising the end product of a construction project. However, despite all the benefits AR can offer, the implementation of AR in Malaysian construction is still lagging. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the factors hindering the application of AR in Malaysian construction industry. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain the possible hindering factors in implementing AR among Malaysian construction companies. Relative Importance Indices (RII) were utilised to analyse the data. In this study, the questionnaires were distributed via email to 260 potential respondents and only 105 responded, which represents 40% of the response rate. From the analysis, it was revealed that the main factors that could hinder the AR implementation are: lack of knowledge about AR, lack of training on AR application, higher cost in investing AR technology and infrastructure, and absence of push from government and clients. In conclusion, to enable the progressive use of the technology, it is important to address the actual factors hindering the implementation of AR in Malaysian construction. At the same time, every party in the construction industry should play a role in promoting the use of AR in their construction project.