Sentinel turns concrete spacers into damage sensors and wins Dyson award

A concrete block normally used to position reinforcing steel can double as a damage sensor. Sentinel, developed by Philippine engineer Aldrei Ong, won the James Dyson Award's global sustainability prize announced November 4. The prototype targets damage that may remain hidden after earthquakes.

Ong explains that conductive additions, including graphene and carbon fiber, create electrical paths through the concrete. Cracks disrupt those paths and change resistance. Electronics relay measurements for remote assessment. The signal indicates possible damage; it does not directly certify an entire building as safe.

Field monitoring has begun. An October 14 Newsbytes report places sensors in a building at the Philippines' National Shrine of the Sacred Heart. The award announcement also describes more than a year of work testing over 125 concrete samples.

Installation is an early step. Ong says readings must be compared with actual damage over time to establish reliability. The potential benefit is helping engineers identify where closer inspection is needed. An invention prize does not demonstrate collapse prediction or replace professional decisions about re-entering an earthquake-damaged building.

Original source dates: Dyson award announcement and inventor interview, November 4, 2026; Newsbytes, October 14, 2026. Exact publication times are not given, preventing precise conversion to Beijing time and US Eastern time (EST in November, EDT in October). These are the dates printed by the sources.