The recent proliferation of virtual reality (VR) technology applications in the autism therapy to promote learning and positive behavior among such children has produced optimistic results in developing a variety of skills and abilities in them. Dolphin-assisted therapy has also become a topic of public and research interest for autism intervention and treatment. This paper will present an innovative design and development of a Virtual Dolphinarium for potential autism intervention. Instead of emulating the swimming with dolphins, our virtual dolphin interaction program will allow children with autism to act as dolphin trainers at the poolside and to learn (nonverbal) communication through hand gestures with the virtual dolphins. Immersive visualization and gesture-based interaction are implemented to engage children with autism within an immersive room equipped with a curved screen spanning a 320 and a high-end five-panel projection system. This paper will also report a pilot study to establish trial protocol of autism screening to explore the participants' readiness for the virtual dolphin interaction. This research will have two potential benefits in the sense of helping children with autism and protecting the endangered species.

The metaverse has gained popularity recently in many areas including social media, healthcare, education and manufacturing. This work explores the use of the metaverse concept for cultural heritage applications. The motivation is to develop a systematic approach for the construction of a cultural heritage metaverse and to offer, potentially, more effective solutions for tourism guidance, site maintenance, heritage object conservation, etc. We propose a framework for this cultural heritage metaverse with an emphasis on fundamental elements and on characterization of the mapping between the physical and virtual cultural heritage worlds. Efforts are made to analyze the dimensional structures of the cultural heritage metaverse. Specifically, five different dimensions, linearity, planarity, space, time and context, are discussed to better understand this metaverse. The proposed framework and methodology are novel and can be applied to the digitalization of cultural heritage via its metaverse development. This is followed by a detailed case study to illustrate the tangible procedure, constructing a cultural heritage metaverse with a complex and dynamic nature which can be used for different applications, including heritage conservation.

With increasing interest in automatic and intelligent systems to enhance the building and construction industry, digital twins (DT) are gaining popularity as cost-effective solutions to meet stakeholder requirements. Comprising real-time multi-asset connectivity, simulation, and decision support functionalities, many recent studies have utilised Industry 4.0 technologies with DT systems to fulfil construction-specific applications. However, there is no comprehensive review to our knowledge, holistically examining the benefits of using DT as a platform from the angles of Industry 4.0 technologies, project management, and building lifecycle. To bridge this gap, a systematic literature review of 182 papers on DT-in-construction works over the past 6 years is conducted to address the three perspectives. In this review, a unified framework is first modelled to incorporate Industry 4.0 technologies within the DT structure. Next, a Six M methodology (comprising of Machine, Manpower, Material, Measurement, Milieu, and Method) based on Ishikawa’s Diagram with building lifecycle considerations is proposed to highlight the advantages of DT in ensuring successful construction projects. Lastly, through the identification of 11 future directions, this work aims to serve as a reference for both industry and academia towards the use of DT systems as a fundamental enabler to realise the Construction 4.0 paradigm.

Cooperative dual-crane lifting is an important but challenging process involved in heavy and critical lifting tasks. This paper considers the path planning for the cooperative dual-crane lifting. It aims to automatically generate optimal dual-crane lifting paths under multiple constraints, i.e., collision avoidance, coordination between the two cranes, and balance of the lifting target. Previous works often used oversimplified models for the dual-crane lifting system, the lifting environment, and the motion of the lifting target. They were thus limited to simple lifting cases and might even lead to unsafe paths in some cases. We develop a novel path planner for dual-crane lifting that can quickly produce optimized paths in complex 3-D environments. The planner has fully considered the kinematic structure of the lifting system. Therefore, it is able to robustly handle the nonlinear movement of the suspended target during lifting. The effectiveness and efficiency of the planner are enabled by three novel aspects: 1) a comprehensive and computationally efficient mathematical modeling of the lifting system; 2) a new multiobjective parallel genetic algorithm designed to solve the path planning problem; and 3) a new efficient approach to perform continuous collision detection for the dual-crane lifting target. The planner has been tested in complex industrial environments. The results show that the planner can generate dual-crane lifting paths that are easy for conductions and optimized in terms of costs for complex environments. Comparisons with two previous methods demonstrate the advantages of the planner, including safer paths, higher success rates, and the ability to handle general lifting cases.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder with different levels of severity. Although the exact causes of ASD is not yet known, nor is there a medical cure for ASD to date, special facilities and schools have been established to help individuals coping better and becoming more independent. With the advancement in Virtual Reality (VR) technology, there has been a greater depth of development of technology-enhanced game-based learning for children with ASD. This paper will describe our effort on virtual pink dolphins to assist children with ASD in their learning, at the same time, to avoid the use of physical pink dolphins which is a species endangered. A study on the use of a low-cost VR enabled pink dolphins game for children with ASD to learn direction following, psychomotor skills and hand-eye coordination will be reported.