Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate students win third place in Datathon Competition

From left to right: Fei Dai, Sourav Dutta, Dilruba Mahmud, Aida da Silva and Linjun Lu.

Advances in technology will eventually make it possible to locate construction and demolition waste and utilize these materials in new construction. In fact, a large number of studies have shown the effectiveness of these recycled materials in new construction. 

Story by Tara Heffernan, Multi-Media Specialist
Submitted Photo

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Graduate students in the Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Linjun Lu (team leader), Sourav Dutta, Dilruba Mahmud and Aida da Silva, led by faculty advisor Fei Dai, won third place at the third annual Visualization, Information Modeling and Simulation (VIMS), and first annual joint Datathon Competition between VIMS and the International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction on July 5, 2022.

The objective of this competition is to explore the capability of robotics in automatically detecting the material in construction and demolition waste, such as rebar, PVC pipes, plastic wires and bricks. The participants were required to select appropriate machine learning models and tools for this task. Teams from across the world participated in the competition.

Registered teams received 500-600 images from new construction and demolition sites and were tasked with expanding the image set, if necessary, and developing machine learning models that could automate segmentation of objects in the photos that have recyclable potential.

The final evaluations of the models were tested live during an online meeting. Performance of the machine learning models was evaluated by VIMS Officers, the IAARC and the Workshops and Summer Schools Committee, as well as ad-hoc experts, as needed.

These students, whose research is conducted in West Virginia University's Integrated Construction Informatics Laboratory, mostly focus their research on the use of digital technologies to solve problems in construction engineering and civil infrastructure.

Because the WVU-ICIL team ranked within the top three winners, they will be awarded $200 and acknowledged at the 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers VIMS Committee’s annual meeting.

“Our group has long been focused on the use of digital technologies to solve problems in construction engineering and civil infrastructure,” said Fei Dai, civil engineering associate professor and faculty advisor. “The knowledge and skills with which the students have been equipped for their research positioned them well in this competition. The students have done a fantastic job. I cannot be more proud of their achievements.”

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