Robert Amor's Publications in 2020

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Jones, D., Bellamy, L. and Amor, R. (2020) Digitalisation of the New Zealand Building Industry: Capturing the Benefits of Digital Technologies on the Design, Construction and Management of Buildings, BIP Report, Quake Center, University of Canterbury, 98pp.

Abstract: The construction sector globally recognises that it has lagged behind other sectors in productivity improvements and the uptake of technology, and that there is a need for change. Major international studies show that productivity in this industry is near the bottom of all sectors, and technology supported change is not as prevalent as it is in other sectors. Digital technology offers enormous potential to increase value for money in terms of productivity and competitiveness. Leading companies across the world have demonstrated the benefits that can accrue from technology supported change. New Zealand companies can learn from these experiences and gain benefits across the phases of planning, design, construction, operation and demolition or recycling. Increased digitalisation of the building industry should not be seen as an end in its own right. However, the need to transform the building industry, as recognised by the recent government and industry Construction Accord, will rely heavily on digital technologies. While the benefits and value of a technological intervention are dependent upon many factors contributing to an individual project, it is clear from overseas experience that perseverance and embedding change will unlock the benefits. To ensure that New Zealand's building industry gains the maximum benefit from technological transformation we make the following recommendations for 2020-2025: o That the government commissions and commits to a digital transformation blueprint with a clear vision of the future of the building industry. o That the technology sector is supported and developed through national showcases, case studies and grass-roots initiatives that allow transfer of knowledge within the sector. For example, a range of forums for individual technological innovations such as the successful BIM forums run in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. o That companies and construction projects are supported to embed change into their processes to achieve the scale required to unlock technology supported improvements. o That whole of industry approaches are developed to fix pain points currently impeding technology supported change. o That the regulatory framework is adapted to incentivise investment decisions and new ways of contracting. o That clients, including government agencies, are educated to mandate the use of best practice technologies and standards on their projects (e.g., requiring as-built BIM models for operations and asset management). o That Central Government shows leadership through procurement rules that incentivise an all-of-government approach to the use of BIM. o That a greater focus is placed upon training and skill development of the whole workforce for the digital future. This must encompass managers through to those on construction sites. o That industry and government choose, or develop, data standards and standard approaches to technology deployment for the nation. o That security and privacy become a standard consideration for all technological innovations.

Feng, Z., González, V.A., Mutch, C., Amor, R. and Cabrera-Guerrero, G. (2020) Instructional Mechanisms in Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games: Earthquake Emergency Training for Children, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12507

Abstract: Children are vulnerable in earthquakes, but they are also essential to foster earthquake-resilient communities. It is critical to enhance the preparedness of children against earthquakes through effective education and training. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) and serious games (SGs) are innovative digital technologies that enable realistic and engaging training environments. However, little research has been made on the applications of IVR SGs for earthquake training targeting children. In order to fill this gap, this paper presents an IVR SG training system based on a problem-based gaming framework. Three instructional mechanisms within the training system, namely prior instruction, immediate feedback, and post-game assessment, were investigated to promote learning through effective reflection. A controlled experiment involving 125 secondary school students aged from 11 to 15 years old was undertaken, using leaflets as a traditional training approach for the control group and the IVR SG training system as the main intervention. Results revealed that the IVR SG training system with postgame assessment was the most effective way to train children, with greater knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy improvement observed. Possible improvements, such as increasing the time for reflection and differentiating the stimulation between positive and negative feedback, are suggested for further research.

Feng, Z., González, V.A., Mutch, C., Amor, R., Rahouti, A., Baghouz, A., Li, N. and Cabrera-Guerrero, G. (2020) Towards a Customisable Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Game for Earthquake Emergencies Training, Advanced Engineering Informatics, Volume 46, October, Article 101134, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2020.101134

Abstract: Earthquake emergencies require a variety of behavioral responses in order to ensure the safety of occupants, which is different from simply exiting a building in fire emergencies. This makes it more complex to train building occupants in order to acquire skills that align to best practices for immediate earthquake response and post-earthquake evacuation. In recent years, Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) and Serious Games (SGs) have become popular as training tools for earthquake emergencies. IVR SGs have been introduced to train individuals for specific building layouts or settings with fixed training objectives. However, the lack of flexibility in existing IVR SGs makes it challenging to have widespread uptake as trainees require different training objectives, pedagogical strategies, context, and content. As a result, the effectiveness of IVR SGs training is jeopardized if the customization ability is limited. To overcome this limitation, this paper presents a customization framework for IVR SGs suited to earthquake emergency training, using the concept of adaptive game-based learning. Trainees can receive training in context by customizing virtual environments, storylines, and teaching methods. A case study was undertaken to validate the proposed framework. Results showed the potential to carry out the customization process with ease, to generate a customized training experience, and to deliver the customized training for optimum learning.

Feng, Z., González, V.A., Amor, R., Spearpoint, M., Thomas, J., Sacks, R., Lovreglio, R. and Cabrera-Guerrero, G. (2020) An Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Game to Enhance Earthquake Behavioral Responses and Post-earthquake Evacuation Preparedness in Buildings, Advanced Engineering Informatics, Volume 45, August, Article 1011184, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2020.101118

Abstract: Enhancing the earthquake behavioral responses and post-earthquake evacuation preparedness of building occupants is beneficial to increasing their chances of survival and reducing casualties after the mainshock of an earthquake. Traditionally, training approaches such as seminars, posters, videos or drills are applied to enhance preparedness. However, they are not highly engaging and have limited sensory capabilities to mimic lifethreatening scenarios for the purpose of training potential participants. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) and Serious Games (SG) as innovative digital technologies can be used to create training tools to overcome these limitations. In this study, we propose an IVR SG-based training system to improve earthquake behavioral responses and post-earthquake evacuation preparedness. Auckland City Hospital was chosen as a case study to test our IVR SG training system. A set of training objectives based on best evacuation practice has been identified and embedded into several training scenarios of the IVR SG. Hospital staff (healthcare and administrative professionals) and visitors were recruited as participants to be exposed to these training scenarios. Participants' preparedness has been measured along two dimensions: 1) Knowledge about best evacuation practice; 2) Selfefficacy in dealing with earthquake emergencies. Assessment results showed that there was a significant knowledge and self-efficacy increase after the training. In addition, participants acknowledged that it was easy, helpful, and engaging to learn best evacuation practice knowledge through the IVR SG training system.

Solihin, W., Dimyadi, J., Lee, Y-C., Eastman, C. and Amor, R. (2020) Simplified Schema Queries for Supporting BIM-Based Rule-Checking Applications, Automation in Construction, 117, September, 103248, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103248

Abstract: Following decades of research, the potential of automated rule-checking applications for building models to boost the productivity in the AECO industry has yet to fully materialize. Most efforts have been dedicated to dealing with the complexities associated with formalizing rules related to building designs for computability. To make automated rule checking applications successful, data availability and accessibility are critical components that must be addressed. Unfortunately, to-date they have not received the same level of attention. To lay a solid foundation for a robust environment of automated BIM-based rule-checking systems, this paper proposes a novel approach of transforming building data into a simplified schema (BIMRLSS) as a means of addressing this critical issue. The paper also describes an implementation of the proposed approach on a traditional database management system, which offers the primary advantage of facilitating high-performance queries and supporting a wide range of query types in real-time. More importantly, this approach not only allows alphanumeric data queries, but also enables queries on the geometry by using various spatial operators. Allowing complex spatialbased queries provides a means to significantly simplify the traditional programmatic approach to BIM-based rule-checking. This data-focused approach allows us to lower a significant barrier that currently prevents BIMbased rule-checking systems from reaching their full potential, making the checking process easier and more robust. To highlight the implications and practical benefits of the proposed method, this paper also demonstrates several application scenarios by utilizing a wide range of queries.

Cissé, K., Gandhi, A., Lottridge, D. and Amor, R. (2020) User Elicited Hand Gestures for VR-based Navigation of Architectural Designs, Proceedings of IEEE HCC, Dunedin, New Zealand, 10-14 August, pp. 1-5, DOI: 10.1109/VL/HCC50065.2020.9127275

Abstract: Virtual Reality (VR) systems have become an affordable mass market technology, along with 3D building design tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM). This provides architects, designers and their clients with immersive experiences of evolving building designs. VR systems typically require physical controllers to manage 3D navigation and to invoke other functions within the virtual environment. A range of mid-air, contactless gesture detecting technologies exist which offer the potential of more intuitive interactions between a user and the 3D model they are experiencing. This research elicited a mid-air hand gesture set for 3D building navigation from interviews with architects and other design professionals. The gestures proposed by design professionals were evaluated against known usability factors to determine an initial set of gestures which were tested through a VR navigation task. An evaluation study was performed looking at the memorability, intuitiveness and comfort of the gestures. The data from this study suggests that the developed gesture set is effective.

Li, B., Dimyadi, J., Amor, R. and Schultz, C. (2020) Qualitative and Traceable Calculations for Building Codes, Proceedings of CIB W78 and ICCCBE 2020, São Paulo, Brazil, 18-20 August, pp. 69-84, http://dx.doi.org/10.46421/2706-6568.37.2020.paper006

Abstract: We present a methodology and prototype software framework to formalise normative provisions related to building design and construction to support automated compliance audit processes of ISO-standard building information models (BIM). Our framework is based on the declarative Answer Set Programming (ASP) logic programming language that we extend to support optimised geometric and spatial reasoning. We address three key challenges in formalising building codes: (1) Ambiguity and qualitative aspects of modern performance-based building codes, e.g. "Essential information on wayfinding must be easy to see, read and understand [1]"; "There shall be no direct line of sight between an access route and a WC [2]". Our framework supports integrated layers of abstraction (in the context of ontologies and knowledge engineering) in order to ground how behavioural and human-centred terms such as "easy to see" and "access route" are ultimately defined based on results from cognitive psychology and declarative spatial reasoning. (2) Managing a relatively large code base that can support maintainability, extensibility, traceability, and transparency, i.e. a particular code definition can be easily traced back to research literature used for its formalisation, and indeed multiple alternative definitions can be implemented and checked simultaneously. (3) Keeping the computational runtime efficient for practical applications, despite processing a large number of codes and a large size of real-world building models. We present empirical results (including real building models from New Zealand) to demonstrate that formalised codes definitions can focus exclusively on the semantics without mixing in "tricks" to make them computationally faster for handling a large-scale BIM, which is often at the cost of clarity and code base maintainability, etc. Thus, we leverage the declarative character of ASP to achieve a total separation of (a) semantic definition from (b) computational runtime efficiency of conformance checking.

Jabin, J., Dimyadi, J. and Amor, R. (2020) Classifying IFC Entities by Their Relative Importance for Accurate Interoperability Measurement, Proceedings of CIB W78 and ICCCBE 2020, São Paulo, Brazil, 18-20 August, pp. 85-97, http://dx.doi.org/10.46421/2706-6568.37.2020.paper007

Abstract: The IFC data model has several hundred entities and thousands of attributes, relationships, quantity and property sets that can represent various aspects of a construction project. A one-to-one mapping between a BIM software tool's native data format and the IFC data exchange standard is not possible. This complexity makes it difficult for the translator modules in a BIM software tool to accurately map the IFC elements, causing interoperability problems while exchanging BIM data using IFC. Also, there are mistakes made by the software developers in implementing the mapping to and from IFC data exchange standard, which adds to the issue. A proposed approach to tackle the interoperability problem is to adopt a 'divide and conquer' method by classifying IFC entities as per their relative importance for a discipline and rectify the interoperability issues of the most important entities first. This paper proposes a framework to classify the IFC entities as per their relative importance with respect to various disciplines and introduce an index called RI (Relative Importance). This paper also suggests the application of the proposed framework in the interoperability measurement (conformance testing) implementation for BIM software tools, and in presenting the results of conformance tests.

Erri Pradeep, A.S., Yiu, T.W. and Amor, R. (2020) A case study on 'BIMCHAIN': A tool that leverages blockchain technology to improve trust in the data exchanged in a BIM environment, Proceedings of CRC2020, Tempe, Arizona, USA, 8-10 March.

Abstract: Information exchange in a Building Information Modelling (BIM) environment is critical yet complex due to the multi-party collaboration nature of a construction project. Uncoordinated workflows with limited structure for approvals leave the exchange transactions prone to contractual, legal and security challenges. Deviating from the existing paper based solutions that may be insufficient to address these issues, this paper analyzes a commercial tool called BIMCHAIN that claims to address a few of these challenges using a new technique of recording data called Blockchain Technology (BCT). Using literature review and content analysis, the paper first builds a list of key functionalities of what an ideal blockchain tool should have when integrated in a BIM workflow. Consequently, based on the technical documentation and the application's beta version, it is analyzed to gain an understanding of its value proposition and its functional appropriateness to address the mentioned challenges. The results indicate that there are eight key functionality requirements from a blockchain tool set out to addresses the legal and security challenges of information exchange in BIM. BIMCHAIN's accomplishes most of its objectives such as improving data reliability, limiting the scope of liability and clarifying stakeholder responsibilities among others. However, the legal validity of the tool's proofs are still untested to establish its acceptance and it doesn't completely justify its claims of 'better quality of data' as this is a function of many other factors. The tool includes four of the eight requirements from the list identified and satisfies two requirements partially. BIMCHAIN is only in its beta testing stage and has showed evidence of how BCT can be leveraged in a BIM environment. Further investigation can include evaluation of this tool in a real project and designing a framework that can include most of the key functionalities identified.

Dimyadi, J., Fernando, S., Davies, K. and Amor, R. (2020) Computerising the New Zealand Building Code for Automated Compliance Audit, Proceedings of NZBERS, Auckland, New Zealand, 20 February, pp. 39-46.

Abstract: One key ingredient in the automated compliance audit process is the availability of a computable form of normative requirements (e.g. codes and standards), which are usually written in natural language intended for human interpretation and not readily processable by machines. The predominantly 'Blackbox' approach of hardcoding these computable normative rules into a compliance audit system has been reported to be problematic and costly to maintain in response to frequent regulatory changes. The current research sets out to investigate to what extent normative texts can be represented as computable rules for automated compliance audit as well as to ease maintenance in response to changes in the source documents. A set of priority compliance documents supporting the New Zealand Building Code has been selected as the subject for a case study. This paper describes the digitisation and quality assurance process, the knowledge extraction experience, and challenges identified during the study. Furthermore, the paper explores how the legal knowledge captured by the digitised rules can be used effectively in an automated compliance audit environment. The findings from the study suggest that a semi-automated digitisation process is feasible and up to 80% of prescriptive text can be translated and encoded into the open standard LegalRuleML. However, only approximately 50% of these can be used directly in an automated compliance audit environment without any human intervention. The lessons learnt from the study can be used towards improving the digitisation process. Ultimately, this could in turn help to improve the natural language source text in subsequent revisions of the codes.