Augmented reality for enhancing educational experience in laboratory safety training

Abstract

Unsafe behavior is one of the main causes of on-site safety accidents, while safety training is critical for mitigating such workplace hazards and ensuring operational reliability. Therefore, to improve the effectiveness of safety training, this paper proposes a novel On-site AR-based Training System (OATS) to enhance training experience. The developed video see-through AR eliminates the heavy requirement of virtual environment modeling by superimposing training content onto the real world. Moreover, enhanced interaction enables users to engage with virtual elements beyond passive animation or Q&A sessions; meanwhile, the isometric locomotion method reduces motion discomfort by tracking real body movements. For the demonstration, laboratory safety training is conducted by comparing the proposed AR approaches with traditional video-based training involving 36 participants. Results showed that OATS outperformed traditional video-based training in knowledge acquisition, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation after training. Meanwhile, it demonstrated high usability (p = 0.005) and presence (p < 0.001) while maintaining low simulator sickness and task load. These findings confirm OATS's potential to improve educational experience and deliver reliable safety training.