Investigating the Impact of Virtual Reality Training on Cognitive Load in Worker-Unmanned Ground Vehicle Interactions in Construction

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are increasingly deployed in construction to improve productivity and safety by performing material handling and site inspection tasks. However, controlling UGVs under dynamic site conditions remains challenging, elevating cognitive load and safety risks. This study proposes a virtual reality (VR)-based training framework to enhance operators’ UGV control proficiency and reduce cognitive demand. In immersive construction simulations, participants executed interface-based commands while physiological metrics measured cognitive load to assess training efficacy. Post-training results revealed VR training yielded a 46.7% reduction in task completion time, an 85.6% increase in operational accuracy, and a one-level decrease in cognitive load. The system’s adaptive feedback mechanism personalizes training and promotes skill transfer to real-world operations. These results demonstrate that immersive VR training effectively strengthens UGV control capabilities and alleviates cognitive burden, offering a scalable approach to optimize human-robot collaboration and create cognitively supportive construction workspaces.