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Col-Con: a collaborative and configurable VR platform for construction—a pipe installation case study.

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Title: Col-Con: a collaborative and configurable VR platform for construction—a pipe installation case study.
Authors: Yu, Liuchuan1 (AUTHOR) lyu20@gmu.edu, Cheng, Ching-Yu2 (AUTHOR) cheng640@purdue.edu, Ranc, William F.1 (AUTHOR) wranc@gmu.edu, Dow, Joshua1 (AUTHOR) jdow7@gmu.edu, Szilagyi, Michael1 (AUTHOR) mszilagy@gmu.edu, Huang, Haikun1 (AUTHOR) hhuang25@gmu.edu, Hong, Sungsoo Ray3 (AUTHOR) shong31@gmu.edu, Esmaeili, Behzad2 (AUTHOR) besmaei@purdue.edu, Yu, Lap-Fai1 (AUTHOR) craigyu@gmu.edu
Source: Virtual Reality. Jun2026, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p1-24. 24p.
Subjects: Construction industry, Piping installation, Software frameworks, Occupational training, Cooperation, Simulation methods & models, Virtual reality, Environmental psychology
Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) has become widely adopted for training, education, and collaboration applications. The construction industry, known for its complex work processes and numerous personnel involved, relies heavily on effective collaboration. Many existing VR research platforms are tailored to specific tasks and offer limited variability. They often demand specialized tools, programming languages, or expertise to enable configurability, thereby restricting accessibility and flexibility. Furthermore, researchers often require diverse settings for conducting user studies, and trainees generally benefit from varied scenarios to enhance training effectiveness. To address these challenges and needs, we introduce Col-Con, a VR platform designed to investigate collaborative behaviors in construction. Col-Con is a configurable, multi-user platform that enables researchers to set up simulations through intuitive and human-readable YAML configuration files. It provides immersive and realistic simulated construction environments, where real-time voice communication, synchronized transformations, animations, sounds, and interactions enhance collaborative experiences. To validate Col-Con's capabilities and investigate user behaviors in a collaborative context, we implemented a realistic and configurable pipe installation task as a case study. A user study demonstrated that pipe installation on Col-Con is highly feasible, with participants reporting a strong sense of immersion and collaboration, making it well-suited for observing collaboration. Thanks to its modular architecture, Col-Con can be easily extended to support additional construction tasks. We envision that Col-Con will facilitate research on exploring virtual reality-based collaborative behaviors in construction and that Col-Con's architecture and implementation can serve as a reference for designing future VR-based multiplayer research platforms. Col-Con is open-sourced at https://github.com/gmu-dcxr/VRC2-System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Virtual Reality is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Col-Con: a collaborative and configurable VR platform for construction—a pipe installation case study.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yu%2C+Liuchuan%22">Yu, Liuchuan</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> lyu20@gmu.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cheng%2C+Ching-Yu%22">Cheng, Ching-Yu</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> cheng640@purdue.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ranc%2C+William+F%2E%22">Ranc, William F.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> wranc@gmu.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Dow%2C+Joshua%22">Dow, Joshua</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> jdow7@gmu.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Szilagyi%2C+Michael%22">Szilagyi, Michael</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> mszilagy@gmu.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Huang%2C+Haikun%22">Huang, Haikun</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> hhuang25@gmu.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hong%2C+Sungsoo+Ray%22">Hong, Sungsoo Ray</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> shong31@gmu.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Esmaeili%2C+Behzad%22">Esmaeili, Behzad</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> besmaei@purdue.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yu%2C+Lap-Fai%22">Yu, Lap-Fai</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> craigyu@gmu.edu</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Construction+industry%22">Construction industry</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Piping+installation%22">Piping installation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Software+frameworks%22">Software frameworks</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Occupational+training%22">Occupational training</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cooperation%22">Cooperation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Simulation+methods+%26+models%22">Simulation methods & models</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Virtual+reality%22">Virtual reality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Environmental+psychology%22">Environmental psychology</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Virtual reality (VR) has become widely adopted for training, education, and collaboration applications. The construction industry, known for its complex work processes and numerous personnel involved, relies heavily on effective collaboration. Many existing VR research platforms are tailored to specific tasks and offer limited variability. They often demand specialized tools, programming languages, or expertise to enable configurability, thereby restricting accessibility and flexibility. Furthermore, researchers often require diverse settings for conducting user studies, and trainees generally benefit from varied scenarios to enhance training effectiveness. To address these challenges and needs, we introduce Col-Con, a VR platform designed to investigate collaborative behaviors in construction. Col-Con is a configurable, multi-user platform that enables researchers to set up simulations through intuitive and human-readable YAML configuration files. It provides immersive and realistic simulated construction environments, where real-time voice communication, synchronized transformations, animations, sounds, and interactions enhance collaborative experiences. To validate Col-Con's capabilities and investigate user behaviors in a collaborative context, we implemented a realistic and configurable pipe installation task as a case study. A user study demonstrated that pipe installation on Col-Con is highly feasible, with participants reporting a strong sense of immersion and collaboration, making it well-suited for observing collaboration. Thanks to its modular architecture, Col-Con can be easily extended to support additional construction tasks. We envision that Col-Con will facilitate research on exploring virtual reality-based collaborative behaviors in construction and that Col-Con's architecture and implementation can serve as a reference for designing future VR-based multiplayer research platforms. Col-Con is open-sourced at https://github.com/gmu-dcxr/VRC2-System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Virtual Reality is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1007/s10055-025-01254-6
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Construction industry
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Piping installation
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      – SubjectFull: Software frameworks
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      – SubjectFull: Virtual reality
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              Text: Jun2026
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