arXiv subjects

Behzad Esmaeili

Publications and source records attributed to Behzad Esmaeili.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Understanding ADHD Productivity in Construction Work: Toward AI-enabled VR Interventions

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is identified as the most prevalent neurodivergent condition in the construction industry. While the construction industry may broaden employment opportunities, little is known about how ADHD traits shape workers' performance, sustained attention, and situational awareness in dynamic job-site environments. This work presents an exploratory interview study aimed at understanding how ADHD traits influence construction-specific productivity and how future interventions can reduce challenges while amplifying strengths. We conducted semi-structured interviews with construction workers with ADHD, safety managers, and ADHD researchers to capture their perspectives on attentional demands, task coordination, and workplace adaptation. As part of these discussions, participants also reflected on the potential of combining artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) to support future ADHD workers. Our analysis identifies two overarching themes: (1) workplace challenges, capturing difficulties that arise from both the nature of construction work and the specific needs of ADHD workers, and (2) productivity support strategies, describing effective methods to sustain focus and task engagement. Further, we derive design requirements for AI and VR-enabled interventions that provide adaptive attentional scaffolding, mediated social presence, and motivational support. We conclude by discussing how these insights can inform the future development of ADHD productivity enhancement support.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

You Are Not Alone: Designing Body Doubling for ADHD in Virtual Reality

Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience challenges sustaining attention in the workplace. Body doubling, the concept of working alongside another person, has been proposed as a productivity aid for ADHD and other neurodivergent populations (NDs). However, prior work found no conclusive effectiveness and noted NDs' discomfort with social presence. This work investigates body doubling as an ADHD centered productivity strategy in construction tasks. In Study 1, we explored challenges ADHD workers face in construction and identified design insights. In Study 2, we implemented a virtual reality bricklaying task under three conditions: (C1) alone, (C2) with a human body double, and (C3) with an AI body double. Results from 12 participants show they finished tasks faster and perceived greater accuracy and sustained attention in C2 and C3 compared to C1. While body doubling was clearly preferred, opinions diverged between conditions. Our findings verify its effect and offer design implications for future interventions.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Col-Con: A Virtual Reality Simulation Testbed for Exploring Collaborative Behaviors in Construction

Virtual reality is widely adopted for applications such as training, education, and collaboration. The construction industry, known for its complex projects and numerous personnel involved, relies heavily on effective collaboration. Setting up a real-world construction site for experiments can be expensive and time-consuming, whereas conducting experiments in VR is relatively low-cost, scalable, and efficient. We propose Col-Con, a virtual reality simulation testbed for exploring collaborative behaviors in construction. Col-Con is a multi-user testbed that supports users in completing tasks collaboratively. Additionally, Col-Con provides immersive and realistic simulated construction scenes, where real-time voice communication, along with synchronized transformations, animations, sounds, and interactions, enhances the collaborative experience. As a showcase, we implemented a pipe installation construction task based on Col-Con. A user study demonstrated that Col-Con excels in usability, and participants reported a strong sense of immersion and collaboration. We envision that Col-Con will facilitate research on exploring virtual reality-based collaborative behaviors in construction.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2022

Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Assessing and Monitoring Fall Hazard Prevention Systems in High-rise Building Projects

This study develops a framework for unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to monitor fall hazard prevention systems near unprotected edges and openings in high-rise building projects. A three-step machine-learning-based framework was developed and tested to detect guardrail posts from the images captured by UAS. First, a guardrail detector was trained to localize the candidate locations of posts supporting the guardrail. Since images were used in this process collected from an actual job site, several false detections were identified. Therefore, additional constraints were introduced in the following steps to filter out false detections. Second, the research team applied a horizontal line detector to the image to properly detect floors and remove the detections that were not close to the floors. Finally, since the guardrail posts are installed with approximately normal distribution between each post, the space between them was estimated and used to find the most likely distance between the two posts. The research team used various combinations of the developed approaches to monitor guardrail systems in the captured images from a high-rise building project. Comparing the precision and recall metrics indicated that the cascade classifier achieves better performance with floor detection and guardrail spacing estimation. The research outcomes illustrate that the proposed guardrail recognition system can improve the assessment of guardrails and facilitate the safety engineer's task of identifying fall hazards in high-rise building projects.

cs.RO↗