Purdue alum’s concrete sensors named to Time’s best inventions
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West Lafayette-based Wavelogix’s Rebel Concrete Strength Sensor was named to Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023 in the “Experimental” category.
Purdue University Professor of Civil Engineering Luna Lu founded the company, and the sensors have been in the works since 2017 when the Indiana Department of Transportation requested her and her lab’s help.
The sensors are installed before concrete is poured and then records data that can be accessible on engineers’ phones. This information is then used to understand whether new construction can handle traffic and when roads need to be repaired.
Earlier this year, WaveLogix tested the concrete sensors in Indianapolis at the future I-465 interchange to I-69 south in collaboration with INDOT. The sensors are also being used in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.
“We have developed the smart sensor technology by using IoT devices and [an] AI-driven algorithm,” Lu previously told Inside Indiana Business. “We could understand the strengths of the concrete development and therefore, engineers can make a data-driven decision [on] when is the most optimized time to open traffic to avoid frequent repair or avoid the traffic jams caused by infrastructure repair.”
The product has the potential to reduce money and concrete spent on repairs by alerting engineers to problems before they grow larger.
You can view the full list of Time’s Best Inventions by clicking here.