Mixed Reality Approach for the Management of Building Maintenance and Operation

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been indicated as the right tool to provide the construction industry with the productivity boost that has been lacking in the last 40 years. This momentum finds its highest fulfilment in the support provided by BIM models to knowledge management and the automation of process. However, the management of information flow is still far from its automation breakthrough and, as far as operation and maintenance are concerned, knowledge about procedures is often incomplete. Moreover, processes are often do not undergo optimisation and the individual steps to be performed are not communicated, but in facility management (FM) the transmission of know-how is fundamental particularly because some operations are dangerous or risky. In this framework, Mixed Reality (MR) represents a powerful means to communicate the correct data concerning both geometric features to be considered and the standard procedure to be followed. The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibility of exploiting the benefits provided by these technologies to achieve automation in the transmission of information and optimisation of procedures, improving efficiency and productivity thanks to a better understanding of the operations to be carried out and the reduction of errors. With the support of a head-mounted display (HDM) device with a see-through screen capable of presenting 3D virtual objects, this research tries to combine information from a BIM model with reality to study the benefits for maintenance personnel.