CIRCULAR WASTE

Research Title

A Gamified Tool for Monitoring Construction & Demolition Solid Waste Data to Support Circular Economy

En-Yu Fan · Pei-Cheng Wang · Arpan Prajapati · Ashwin Ravikumar · Antonis Zorpas · Georgios Pappas

Project Details

Design Methodology

• Goal Definition

  Aligned simulation objectives with circular-economy principles and industry waste-management systems.

• Primary Research

  Gathered reference materials so sites read as accurate C&D waste operations environments.

• Asset Development

  Built demolition-site and C&D plant environments in Blender from original site references.

• Design Validation

  Verified 3D layouts with industry professionals for technical and structural accuracy.

Development Focus

Developed as part of a Purdue Polytechnic School of Applied and Creative Computing research team — building a gamified C&D waste simulation aligned with industry circular-economy principles.

Design & Validation

• Collaborated with an industry professional to align objectives with circular economy principles and real waste-management systems.
• Conducted primary research and gathered site reference materials to ground facility appearance in real C&D plants.
• Validated 3D layouts with industry review to ensure technical and structural accuracy before systems work.

Environments & Assets

• Modeled primary environments in Blender 5.0: a Demolition Site and a C&D Waste Management Plant from site references.
• Represented key stages such as weighing, stockpiling, screening, and separation as playable spatial systems.
• Built facility layouts that support both task execution and logistics overview perspectives.

Simulation Systems

• Architected a modular Mode Switch Controller (C#) for runtime camera/input remapping between FPP task execution and Top-Down logistics views.
• Built a centralized Instruction Manager as a finite workflow graph — waypoints, prerequisites, and prompts from weighbridge intake to final sorting.
• Implemented a State-Check observer that validates process constraints each step, applying soft efficiency penalties instead of hard fail states.
• Scripted procedural event hooks for hopper infeed, magnetic separation, and density classification as machine-state triggers on the processing line.
• Organized simulation logic as ScriptableObject-style/config-driven stages so collection → logistics → facility processing could extend without scene rewires.

Simulation Systems

• Dual camera/input modes: FPP task execution vs Top-Down logistics oversight
• Instruction-guided C&D pipeline from vehicle weighing to material sorting
• State-check compliance monitoring with progressive soft penalties
• Machine-event triggers for weighing, stockpiling, screening, and separation stages

Fig — Screening & separation line

Fig — Facility layout

Tools & Technologies

• Unity + C# — Mode Switch Controller, Instruction Manager, State-Check observers
• Workflow graph — gated C&D stages with timed tasks and soft failure signaling
• Blender 5.0 — demolition site and processing-plant environment assembly
• Config-driven stages — collection, logistics, and facility processing extensibility

Discussion & Future Work

The framework establishes an extensible foundation for studying how users perceive, interpret, and engage with construction and demolition waste management workflows in an interactive environment.

• How do participants engage with and interpret the interactive simulation environment?
• Do users accurately understand the function and sequence of each stage in the C&D pipeline?
• How well do users follow prescribed sorting logic under time pressure?