Oxford, OH — Researchers at Miami University of Ohio are developing personalized, gamified safety training for manufacturing workers that combines components of artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
Funded by a grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the group comprises members of the university’s Farmer School of Business and the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Innovation Hub.
Its aim: create the Safety Immersion and Gamified Hazard Training (SIGHT) for Industry 5.0 Workers initiative. The program will use complementary virtual reality and augmented reality platforms “designed to change how workers recognize and respond to workplace hazards as well as increase job readiness,” a university press release states.
The VR platform will employ generative AI to simulate hazards based on workers’ specific job environments. Meanwhile, workers can receive safety and productivity feedback in real time via sensor-based AR coaching.
SIGHT “will particularly benefit small and mid-sized companies that lack dedicated safety training staff or advanced technological infrastructure,” the release notes.
The university adds that only “minimal technology” will be needed to use the platforms, which will be able to accommodate multilingual workers and those with poor hearing or vision. The researchers initially intend to make SIGHT ready to use for Ohio workers before expanding it to organizations outside the state by 2028.