Research purpose: Understanding workers with disabilities’ needs/concerns/adaptations for workforce training
Investigator: Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber, University of Southern California
Duration: 90 minutes
Eligibility criteria: at least 18 years old, have experience as a construction worker, have a physical disability (e.g., musculoskeletal disorders, or orthopedic disabilities, or vision/hearing impairment, or amputations).
Contact: padami@usc.edu or 213-519-162

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber, Dr. Lucio Soibelman, and Dr. Gisele Ragusa at the University of Southern California. Your participation is voluntary and will last for approximately 90 minutes. You must be at least 18 years of age, have experience working on construction sites, and have physical disabilities (e.g., musculoskeletal disorders, or orthopedic disabilities, or vision/hearing impairment, or amputations). This research identifies workers with disabilities’ needs/concerns/adaptations for workforce training and how personalized learning approaches and emerging technologies can be used to design novel personalized training for workers with disabilities to operate robots on construction sites.

If you agree to participate in this study, you will be invited for an interview. After introducing the purposes of the study, you will fill out a demographics survey. You will then be asked about the type of disabilities you have and the limitations you experienced as a worker on construction sites. Then, you will be introduced to a remote-operated construction robot and a Virtual Reality (VR)-based training developed for this robot. You will be asked about adaptations you need to experience an effective training method and remote operation of the robot.

With your permission, the researchers will collect voice, video, digital, or image recordings during the interview to capture your responses to the questionnaires and your interactions with the VR. You may still participate in the interview if you refuse to have your voice, video, digital, or image recorded; we will not record your information but take notes during the interview.

This study is expected to last around 90 minutes. This study includes 50$ compensation. For more information about the study and to participate, please contact:
Pooya Adami, padami@usc.edu
Ph.D. Student,
USC, Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
3620 S. Vermont Avenue, Kaprielian Hall 217, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2531
Tel: 213-519-1622
Email: padami@usc.edu